It's A Wonderful Life

As I was falling asleep last night I reminisced at how marvelous this Christmas truly was.  After all the stress over buying the best presents; getting frustrated over all the long lines in every store with last minute shoppers; hurrying to get the house clean, decorating and getting prepared this year was probably my favorite. While the time leading up to the Christmas celebrations are all materialistic the day really felt like a family day for me.  I have a big family and we're all at different points in our lives so we tend to clash.  I noticed, however, that when it all boils down it's who you're surrounded by on special days like Christmas.  We have our disagreements but I've never felt as close with my siblings as I did yesterday.  We seemed to get along the whole day through.  We goofed around and overall enjoyed each others company.   

Christmas mass.  It's a part of the day that I think is most important.  It's a reminder to me why we even celebrate in the first place.  It's not about the presents or the decorations.  I think we all need to step back and realize those things aren't as important as we tend to make them.  The fact that we have a day that is known for sales and insane customers looking for the best deals for a holiday blows my mind.  Yes we do exchange gifts on Christmas, but that's not why we celebrate.  I personally appreciate spending that hour of the holiday at mass recognizing the true meaning of Christmas.  It brings me down from that high of materialism that we become consumed by during the season.  Sometimes I even need the reminder to keep Christ in Christmas and mass yesterday was a nice way to remind myself.

Times are hard, they've never really been easy.  But this time of year is always surrounded by a magical feeling in one way or another.  This year I think it was how much family really means.  It's nice seeing how despite the fact that they annoy me majority of the time my siblings really are good people.  They were brought up right and I really love seeing them do things special for each other when they don't have to.  Nobody's perfect and we are far from it, but I really appreciate where we come from and how we were brought up.  Not many people can say they have what we have and I am genuinely grateful to my parents and grandparents.

Never forget the essence of your spark!
Maire