This is my favorite time of the year!
I love the holidays in that they remind us of how we should live daily and provides opportunities to spend more time with friends and family. While Christmas is a joyous time as many of us celebrate the birth of Jesus, it is also a reminder of the brevity of life. While we celebrate His birth, we all know the rest of the story. While many of us celebrate the joy in the season, others mourn. This could be the first holiday without a loved one, a reminder of a desire for family for many orphans and foster children across the globe, and bittersweet opportunities to make memories for sick loved ones.
If you know me I live life as if there’s no tomorrow because frankly, we aren’t promised it—I drink my special wine with special friends in lieu of “saving it,” I give items away, and I am constantly seizing the moments that others may save for a future date. Some have looked appalled when I say “I may be dead this time next year.” Okay, not the best wording for some but evidence that I’m living life to the fullest. For those that know me (and not even that well), you know I focus on the details more than the big picture. For me, love lies in the details and when it comes together the big picture is beautiful, even if messy in the process. With the ever-increasing chaos of the American Christmas, I’ve been trying to focus on the small blessings and details in life that make the days special.
Here are a few that have come to mind:
- Enjoying laughter with girlfriends over for one of my home-cooked meals
- Long hot bubble baths with a gossip magazine
- Saying things because you mean them, not worrying about what others think or social expectancies
- Snuggling with my babies at work especially when the one I call “Roo” wants to just hold hands (with interlocking fingers, the best kind)
- Impromptu lunch/dinner dates
- Drinking coffee and blogging with nowhere to be
- Turning on the faucet whenever I need/want while knowing many friends around the world don’t have clean water to sustain health and daily activities
- Sleeping in
- An unexpected smile or comment from a stranger
- Good wine and moments wine tasting
- Getting air mail from my sponsored child in Malawi--is she as excited to get mail and packages from me as I am from her?
I’ll leave you with a few faces that make this season all the more joyous.
Remember to keep a mental count of the little things all year round and give, give, give!
All the best for this holiday season and looking forward to 2012,
Danielle
Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. –James 4:14 
