Christmas 2019

This Christmastime was wonderful and yet strange. It all seemed to happen within the last week  leading up to Christmas Eve.  Last Christmas I had more time to celebrate throughout December, going to my niece and nephew’s play, a church dinner, going Christmasy places with friends, and shopping. 

This year, I had a cold the first week, worked a great deal, and found myself missing my mom very much around Thanksgiving.  I still enjoyed Christmas music, and movies but felt as though I was only working and resting. Thankfully, the cold went away and I was able to get out Christmas shopping with my dad. I had already ordered gifts online and bought some earlier, but it was nice spending time with him and helping him pick out gifts.

Work was, as usual in retail during the holidays, stressful and exhausting.  At home, I wrapped presents and watched Christmas movies, and was finally starting to enjoy what I call real Christmas, which is when I’m not at work dealing with all that stress.

I was able to visit Hillside Farms with a friend and her sons. We visited the animals, shopped in the mercantile, and got delicious ice cream.  

Later that week, another friend and I met for lunch and were pleased to see that the restaurant was decorated for the holidays. 

Then we visited Edward’s Garden Center to look at their Christmas decorations, and while most of them had been taken down, we still had a good time.  Though, we agreed to go a bit earlier in the season next Christmas in order to see all the decorations.

Another Christmas outing was a bit of a last minute opportunity to see The Miracle of Christmas at Sight and Sound Theater.  I left directly after work that Saturday and arrived in time to see the show with my friends. The beautifully done show was a wonderful reminder of what Christmas is truly all about, Christ’s redeeming love.

After the show we had dinner and exchanged gifts, which was nice since I usually don’t get the chance to do so with those two till months after the holidays.  Another plus about the trip was all of the beautiful Christmas lights I saw during the drive.  I love Christmas lights so they just made a great trip even better.

A few days after the play it was Christmas Eve at last.  After a short work shift and then I was at Dad’s church for the Christmas Eve service with my brother’s family. Dad preached a lovely sermon about Christ being the whole point of the holiday. 

Then we had a great Christmas Eve dinner.  After my brother and his family left, my dad and I exchanged gifts and watched Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean, traditional viewing for us.

The next day, Christmas day was spent with my dad, brother, my sister in law, niece, and nephew.  As usual, my brother made an awesome holiday dinner, and I made a pretty good desert everyone seemed to like. After presents and food, we went as a family to see the new Star Wars movie, which we all enjoyed. We even drove around to look at Christmas lights.

Even though Christmas is technically over, I’m still enjoying the holidays, still watching Christmas movies, still listening to Christmas music, and yes, remembering God’s gift to us all.  I’m enjoying hearing about other’s holidays as well.  I know the phrase, “keeping Christmas in your heart all year long” can seem cliché, but considering how materialistic Christmas can be, I think I want to hang on to real, family, friends, and Christ centered Christmas as long as I can.  Sounds like a good way to go into the New Year.