Okay, I'm not walking in a winter wonderland, I'm sitting in an office chair, but I'm listening to the song. My Christmas spirit arrived today from wherever it has been hiding. I'm not sure why it showed up today, but here it is. So I decorated the house and I'm listening to Christmas music. That's the true test of my Christmas spirit.
This time of year always makes me realize how grown my children are. I have so many memories of Christmas with the kids around the tree ripping paper and jumping up to hug me when I got the 'right' gift. I have pictures of smiling faces and videos of laughing kids and memories piled up like pictures overflowing a box: turkey and ham dinners and hot cocoa and cinnamon rolls and playing with new toys. I remember Christmases when the kids tried to sneak and open their presents early, and the Christmas that I put numbers on the tags instead of names so they wouldn't know which presents were whose.
They are all grown now, and Christmas is a different kind of joy. I get much less satisfaction from the gifts, and much more satisfaction from the meals and the playing games and telling stories. I am blessed that I've had a wonderful life with my kids. My oldest turned 26 this year, and the youngest are 18 (no, that isn't bad grammar. My youngest children are twins, so there are two of them that are 18) and none of them live home anymore. They will all be here for Christmas, and we'll eat and tell stories and look at pictures and play silly games, and it will be a wonderful day. I wouldn't want to go back in time to when they were all young, but I'm sure glad I have the memories.
God bless you all this Christmas...I wish for you all the joy that I feel at this moment.
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