Skip to main content

Making Christmas Count



Christmas comes and goes, and I often look back and say " I missed Christmas"

I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way... we get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday that we forget to slow down and enjoy the memories being made.

When I was growing up Christmas was THE holiday for our house!! my mom went all out. we had tons of gifts, a HUGE tree, put up on black Friday (earlier if she could talk my father into letting her put it up). it was a magical time in our house. I love the memories I have from my childhood Christmases.

My parents would wake us up at 5am and we would run downstairs, in our new jammies to see the living room lighted only by the Christmas tree and all the presents seemed like they were glowing under it. I have two sisters and we each   had our own place for gifts under the tree, and right in front of our gifts would be the unopened gifts from Santa!! They were the 1st thing we would see, and although I knew they were from our parents it was still one of my favorite parts of our Christmas traditions. to sit down and look through what "Santa" had left for us, opening our stockings and finally after mom brought out the different muffins and breads for breakfast, her and dad would have a cup of Diet coke and Pepsi (lol no coffee for them) and we would settle in and one by one we would open our gifts.
we were not rich by any means, but there was always an abundance of gifts. my mom would buy throughout the year when she found deals and she even found things that we really wanted at thrift stores on occasion. we never cared where it came from, we just knew that our parents loved us and bought things for us that they knew we would love.

I miss those Christmases, and I strive to make my daughters the same way, but I still felt like I  was "missing  Christmas"...

Until I actually did miss a Christmas! 

 Two years ago when my father passed away on December 2nd. and our family truly felt what it meant to "miss Christmas"

My families life was shattered, we were struggling just to get day to day not even thinking about Christmas. My daughter kept asking if we were going to put up a tree, and I couldn't.. I couldn't even think about getting through the month, let alone dealing with gifts, parties and putting up a tree. I just didn't care!

I did come to my senses and 3 days before Christmas we put up our tree and wrapped the gifts I had bought before he passed, ad sent my hubby out to buy a few stocking stuffers and we were good to go....but my heart wasn't in it. we didn't play music all December, we didn't bake a ton of cookies, or spend time looking for gifts for all of our loved ones.

I missed the Joy of Christmas...
I missed the fellowship with family and friends..
I missed Christmas...


I made a HUGE effort to not do that again...to make every holiday count. to make memories that we can laugh over in the years to come, like we do about the memories we have with my father.

Christmas isn't just about the gifts and the lighted tree, its about spending time with your loved ones and making memories that will last a life time.

It is for sharing your faith and celebrating the birth of our Lord...it is for rejoicing that even in our grief, we are reassured that we will be with my father again one sweet day. 

So for now I will make memories, I will live in the moment, I will slow down , and I will be present, and most importantly I will NOT miss another Christmas.

Christmas tree photo from www.inspiringwallpapers.net


 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Having to say Goodbye

Saying good bye to someone is never easy, especially if you know that it may be the Last time you may ever see them, hug them, whisper that you Love them. You want to hold on to them forever and never let go......and then you have to leave...with that doubt in your mind, the whispered lies floating through your mind, taking root, that you were not there enough, that you didn't hug, kiss, or say you loved them enough. It's enough to crush you...enough to make you want to hide away from everyone.....even yourself. This is where we are...my Beautiful Mom is on hospice..and I am trying to wrap my head around that word.. Hospice......such a scary word....its  the knowledge that the end is near, but never knowing when that final day will come.  The past few months we have been making every opportunity to be with her, we knew this was coming, and we were going to make as many memories with her as we could, but there will always be more memories we want to share with her. ...
8 comments
Read more

Bread Baking Adventure

Lets talk about bread...... I have a love/hate relationship with the stuff. I LOVE the taste of it, but I HATE what it does to me. Lately I have been on a search for healthier foods for me and my family, and since my daughter has a milk allergy, I have focusing most of my searches around what she needs the most ( or in this case what she cant have- milk based products) I have come up with a few great milk-less recipes that we love, like this Milk-less Pancake Recipe  and this awesome milk-less Muffin base that we use all the time. I love mixing up the add-in ingredients to make different muffins that my daughter can enjoy. In an attempt to know what we are putting in to our bodies, I have started making most of our snacks/meals from scratch...and while it takes a little more time and effort, I think it is worth it in the long run. I LOVE to bake, but I am not that great of a bread maker...I don't even own a bread machine! I can make pumpkin bread and sweet breads.......
2 comments
Read more

Becoming Intentional

It seems like forever since I have blogged....its actually only been a few days, but it feels longer...I have been waiting for something to write....something funny....something wonderful.....something inspiring...... However, I have nothing like that to write about.....my writing will be changed forever and as much as I hate that and the reason behind it, I cannot change it. Maybe in the future the tone of my writing will change, but for now I will write whats on my heart...it may not be for anyone but for me...and that is o.k. Today was the 1st day of school for this semester for my daughter Olivia. With us living between 2 homes during Mom's Hospice, I felt like we needed to focus all of our attention on spending as much time with mom as possible. So we put getting back to school on the back burner till we got home. It was the best decision for us, and I will never regret it. The extra hugs and snuggles, and TIME, Olivia was able to spend with her "Gugu" in her la...
2 comments
Read more