I am not going to hide this. I really enjoy Christmas. I start planning my gifts for next year as soon as I have given out this year’s. I enjoy it even more now that my sister is living close now.
For some reason, this year I haven’t been able to quite grasp the jolly of the season. I am content. I have food, good friends, housing, clothes, my dog… Why am I not feeling it this year?
Well……you know I went into self analysis mode…..
It could be because….
- I feel like I don’t have enough money to get everyone what I want to give. (notice the I in that sentence?)
- Work has sucked the life out of our office. Even decorating the office was hard. It didn’t help that someone helped themselves to our decorations one night.
- It is hard to be happy when those close friends around you are suffering. I want to help, but I am at a loss how to.
- It is hard to be happy when so many of our students are getting in trouble for THC, vaping equipment and general anger issues.
- Christmas and New Year fall in the middle of the week this year. It is hard to plan anything during the week. I work the weekends.
- Family issues at home also influence how I react to the holidays. If the other part of the family is not feeling it, I most likely will not either.
- I can’t do everything I want to. Decorating the house is work. It used to be entertainment.
I could go on and on. My final conclusion after witnessing so many young women and men go into mental health wards these last few weeks, the arrests for self medicating with THC vape pens and the overall lack of motivation at work, is that it is okay to be content this year.
Decorations at home don’t have to go up. So someone stole decorations from work. I need to pray that they use them in honor of God somehow. (or honestly, what comes around goes around – God will get them.) Even though I haven’t been able to give everyone what I originally intended. God provided other substitutes. Just like I don’t have a good day everyday. Not every Christmas is going to be Wonderful. It might just be Okay. I did get my toes done for a Christmas party.
The point is that God allowed me to live another season with my friends and family. I should relish that.
May you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Picture from last year.