My First Blog Post

Christmas is about family to me. The older I get the more it is about giving and the less it is about receiving. It is about the quiet at the end of the day. Then there are the memories of childhood Christmas days at my grandparents with my cousins, brothers, aunts, uncles and parents. My grandmother's fudge and cookies. The laughter of children, the chatter of adults, the aroma of foods, the warmth of the house. Christmas programs at church. School parties. Caroling with the youth choir or 4-H through out our small town. So this year I am not rushing the season or the feeling. Yes, we will leave for our beach house tomorrow but this house will stay Christmas. I want to return to Christmas. I want to be able to come home to my tree, decorations, and the warmth of my fire and Christmas candles. I don't like to rush anymore. It seems to me that we rush through this season, that now starts soon after Halloween, with the sense of getting it over with. I, at times, refer to it as the season that feels like a part time job. Something was different this year. My son has a new girl friend, so everything felt new again, kind of like when there is a new baby in the family and it is their first Christmas. We had a new person to share our traditions with, our home, our tree, our decorations, which brings me back to my first statement.  Christmas is about family. It's very beginnings centered around the start of a new family, a man and a woman welcoming their child into the world. It was about a baby, about hope, about birth and a new beginning. So this year and in the year to come I hope to slow down and enjoy quiet at the end of the day, to welcome chances for new beginnings, to remember to walk out on my back porch and look up at the sky, listen to the river, take a deep breathe, and remember family is what is really important.