There are a lot of things to love about this time of year. A lot of memories of special times, special years. Of people who have since passed on and now only live in the stories we share with each other. There are a lot of traditions. This is the time of year when my cynical side is fairly well balanced with my emotional side. Sure, I joke about the War on Christmas, make note of Christian-privilege, and groan about the use of pagan holiday traditions rebranded to make them acceptable for mass marketing purposes. The Heathen in me cringes every time I hear about Santa, the 'Christmas' tree, gifts... actually, pretty much EVERY SINGLE THING about the modern celebration of Christmas. But that's another topic and not what I want to dwell on today.
No, today I want to write about the importance of family at the holidays.
If there's ever a time of year I miss my family, it's now. Sure, there are times I wax nostalgic in the summer, like when I smell the scent of rain water on hot concrete, or drive past a pool with kids splashing around. But most of my strongest memories are about the holiday season. Like the year Timmy was SURE there was no Santa, and someone climbed up on the roof to make a bunch of noise and give his parents one more year. Or the time Santa's eyebrow fell off while Crystal was sitting on his lap and it went down the front of her dress (that might have been someone else, now I'll have to check). The year they gave a baby Jonny a turkey leg at Thanksgiving and he teethed on it for hours. Most of my memories aren't about the things we got, although there were a few things that stand out in that regard, but rather about the joy and love that was so strong when the family gathered at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Christmas Eve.
This year I didn't get a chance to see family. I had neither vacation time nor money nor cooperative weather to allow me a chance to travel home. I'd hoped to make the trip, but the stars just didn't align. Fortunately for me, there's Facebook, so I at least got to see the pictures. It made me miss them even more.
It makes me wonder what next year will be like. Will I have a child of my own? Will they be welcomed by my family? Will they even want to be? I can only hope that the answer to all of those questions is a resounding yes. Next year, will I join the masses trying to score whatever the new gift of the year is? For what it's worth, not even a kid is going to get me out on Black Friday to Walmart, but there's always the internet, right? Will they want lots of 'stuff' because they haven't had it? Or will having a family be the best gift of all? I suppose I can only wait and see.
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