It’s November and always about this time of the year, I think about my Christmas letter. I haven’t forgotten about Thanksgiving but then it’s a one-day shot and Christmas is a whole season. In fact, it goes even deeper than that. I have always felt that a meaningful Christmas letter should have three things. The past, the present and yes, the future. I hope that in these next few paragraphs I can achieve that.
The past has become the major part of Christmas for me. That’s because its
happened almost eighty times and that’s a lot to talk about. It’s not only my childhood, but also my children’s childhoods, and now their children’s and grandchildren’s. I don’t think in our wildest dreams, my wife and I ever thought our family would grow this big and wonderful. If there were one more wish I could have, it would be that she would be here to enjoy it with us once more, even if it was for just one day, and that is because she epitomized the spirit of Christmas.
They say Christmas is for the little ones and yes, for the gift part of it that may be true. But Christmas is also a time to remember, through memories that go far past the memories of those little ones. Memory’s of sad Christmas’s, memories of glad Christmas’s, they’re all there in the mix but not to be graded or rated because they were always no matter the circumstances-- meaningful Christmas’s.
I’m a dreamer of sorts. I always have been, always will be. If I had a chance to have the most meaningful Christmas yet I would somehow magically be able to spend a moment in time with everyone that has come into my life over the years. Every dollar I have made, every accolade about me that has been uttered, every piece of tangible personal property that I own, pales in comparison to the friends and family members that have been in my life and been part of my life over all of these years. I fully realize that without them I would be nothing.
Christmas in the desert southwest where I am now, takes some getting used to from a Minnesota boy. Songs like Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman lose their luster in the sandy desert but yet when I as a Christian man go back to that very first Christmas in Bethlehem, I’m betting the streets were void of snow and ice. So, when I hang some lights on my Bougainville bush instead of a spruce tree, the effects are the same and so is the end result. A happy colorful Christmas.
For Pat and I this Christmas, our friends and families are paramount no doubt, but this Christmas will also be about two old companions trying to celebrate the birth of our lord which means so much to both of us and the love and respect we have for each other and have grown to enjoy. So Merry Christmas and may the reason for this season bless you all richly and make it the best one ever.
Mike
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