Merry Christmas! 2013

I find it so hard to believe that I used to not like the holiday season. Again, this year, I had a lovely time with my family. Our traditions held strong, my mom and I spent the better part of 4 hours putting together two toys. Then we woke up with the kids and got to experience all the wonder and excitement of the gifts Santa left (although, my sister told me that my nephew is starting to question Santa mainly because all that he does defies science - smart kid...he took the gifts nonetheless and stopped questioning when he saw the half eaten cookie by  his toys.)

I went to a weekend retreat last February about recovery. The speaker was a little out there for me but there was one message that I really took to heart after the retreat was over. He had us do an exercise in which we described how we felt when we were younger. Open, carefree, curious were some of the words that came up. He encouraged us to remember to approach life this way. I can get so bogged down in the events surrounding me that I truly forget the magic of pushing all of that aside for a while and viewing life with a big open heart.

As I watched my favorite little people open their gifts today, I tried to tap into their wonder and curiosity about the world. I don't think it ever hurts to try to look at the world through the eyes of a happy child. I noticed with my niece and nephew that they were imaging all the fun things possible once they got this toy out of the box. They were filled with such excitement and, of course, that makes everything worthwhile. It is, afterall, about the giving. This year felt more about giving than ever. I had such a blast getting my gifts together. 

When I try to look at the world through their eyes, it does make my heart happy. I get a sense of wonder and joy. I also think about all the things I don't know about. I wonder about the universe and the stars like my nephew. I take great pride in working on someone's hair like my niece. They don't care much if they are good or bad at anything, they just go for it and have a good time. Shouldn't we all be so lucky?

I am now sitting here with my two kittens who are purring for no other reason than I am home sitting with them. Such happiness and comfort on this holiday. I wish all my devoted readers a Merry Christmas!! 

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