Holiday Ruminations

December 29th, 2011 by Karen

I think today is the day that everyone finally caught up on all the work they had slacked off on over the holidays as I saw a flurry of facebook and twitter posts about the age old question: what did you get for Christmas/Hanukkah?

I found the answers very interesting on a personal level. This year has not been a flush one for us and our meager resources made us a little more creative this time around and I think that was a very good thing for us. I was blessed to receive an early gift of a working dishwasher from my brother (he got it from some friends who were moving and didn’t need it at their new place), help ripping apart our bathroom from my parents and brother, a lovely pair of gloves from my sister, a movie night with the hubby (though the movie was downright awful :P), a handmade necklace from our oldest daughter, and a pair of socks and a book I bought myself at Powell’s.

If I was to look at this with an ungrateful heart, I got this: a used dishwasher, an unfinished mess of a bathroom, a pair of gloves, a crappy movie, a glass bead necklace, socks and a book. How awful!

Happily, I love every single thing I got because the most important thing I received was time with my family. This year, we lost several family members and their absence I felt keenly. I’m so very happy that I got to spend so much time with all our family members this December. So what that our children didn’t get us anything storebought, or much of anything overall…I had much more fun having hot chocolate with them and snuggling on the couch. So what that the movie my hubby bought me was awful…I got to spend two hours cuddling on the couch with him while we laughed at it, a luxury we rarely allow ourselves. So what if the dishwasher I have is used…not washing dishes by hand for the first time in four years is AMAZING and it’s an enormous gift of time back in my life.

I found myself saddened by posts from several people today…complaining that they didn’t get what they wanted from a specific person, that something was the wrong color, or that they didn’t get what they had explicitly requested. Oh my dear friends…this is not the reason for the season. We are celebrating miracles! Whether it’s the birth of Christ or the oil lasting for eight days, it is a time of joy and happiness. The presents are nice, sure, but they’re not the most important.

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