I love Christmas. I love the decorations, the feeling, the desire to make someone else's holiday a happy one. I love decorating my home with things both familiar and new. I love holiday music, whether sacred or 'profane' (that would not include Grandma getting run over by a reindeer.)
And I love the comfort and joy that the greatest Gift of all brings to my life. But I'm not given to proselytizing - one tenet of my faith that I'm just not comfortable with.
Making some measure of peace with the fact that people who don't even believe in the core miracle of Christmas still co-opt the material aspects of the season is still a bit of challenge for me, though. They are welcome to what they take of it. It's just such a meager, hollow portion.
I can also understand why some folks hate this time of year. It can be a very sad and lonely time. So many memories bombarding us. But we do have choices: let the memories overwhelm and burden us, or not. I choose not.
I miss my sister so much...every single day...but never more than at Christmas. It was her birthday, but that's not what makes her loss so palpable at this time of year.
She was the easiest person in the world to gift. We couldn't have been more different, but I knew her likes, and she mine, like no other. It was never about lavishness...just finding that special something. Whatever it might turn out to be. We knew how to appreciate each other. I still find things for her, and I believe that she knows. But I still miss seeing what special 'find' she might have in store for me - always creative. Always fun.
I know, beyond any doubt, that continuing to celebrate the holidays, in full, is the best way to honor her memory. So I have, I do, and I always will.
