Well, as I said before, I'm not that great at being a consistent blogger. In the time since I last blogged, I moved my daughter to Atlanta, spent 3 1/2 weeks crying about it every day, she decided it wasn't for her so she moved back home (happy dance - AND it was on my Birthday!!). She is now enrolled in online college courses, we've done almost all we need to do for the Christmas Holidays, and I'm just tired.Though I am truly happy to have my chick back with me.
So the rest of this post has pretty much nothing to do with chicks or mommas, but just some things that have been rolling around in my head. Some that I have given much thought to, some I wish to give more thought to, and some I probably haven't given enough thought to.
Why do the holidays have to be so exhausting? I long for a time just to sit and be. Soaking in what this moment in time truly represents. Although, I have come to the understanding that this is not the "real" time of year of Jesus' birth. I've been told (*please note I have not researched this for myself, but do trust the knowledge and spirituality of the one who told me this) that Jesus' birth actually took place in the spring around the time of passover. Makes a lot of sense when you actually think about it. The Old Testament is a forshadowing of the New Testament. The passover originated when God told the Hebrew children to kill a lamb and put the blood on their doorposts so that the Angel of Death would know to "pass over" that house during the time of the plagues in Egypt. So it suits to follow that Jesus' birth would be at the time of passover, just as his death and ressurection was as well. Oh well, it's something to think about anyway. Perhaps I will get around to researching it for myself one day soon.
So the day we are accustomed to celebrating the birth of our Savior is just one week away. The biggest thrill for me is seeing the ones I love, receive gifts that express that love and the joy on their faces. My most treasured moments are when they actually like/love the homemade gifts. This year, they even got into the spirit of making gifts for loved ones. I hope this is a tradition that will remain in our family. You know they go through that phase as little ones that they don't really know about buying presents. A picture that they've colored is a treasured gift, it means as much to them as it does to us. Then, as our society dictates, they fall into the stress of thinking they have to purchase gifts for them to be special. So it is truly special when they come full circle to "I'm going to make this for mom, dad, brother, sister because it will mean something to them to have it and it will mean something to me to make it for them. Yes, tears of joy are falling as I type this.
I hope that as days pass on and turn to months and years, that we will begin to see outside of our circle even more. We have done things with our family on a regular basis to meet the needs of others. Sometimes I wish to do more, though, much of the time it is not possible, not only financially, but physically for me. My second daughter this year had set aside money for purchasing Christmas gifts. She heard of a family that was in need, and through proper channels, decided instead of using her money to buy gifts for our family, she would use the money to buy for the family in need. She plans to make us homemade fudge as our Christmas gifts. She has little to no idea that she has already given me and my husband our gift by choosing to do this for this family in need.
We are truly blessed, and for this I am truly grateful. Merry Christmas to everyone, I hope your days are filled with blessings and that we all remember to count each and every one of them and give thanks for them.
