So this is Christmas.
I don’t know if I can write this with a dry eye. I guess it’s not necessary.
It’s like this: Christmas is hard. None have looked like what I would have imagined even five years ago. Nothing is the same. But you know what? They’re all wonderful and magical and sometimes my life is so great I have to grit my teeth and close my eyes and make sure I never forget. Because, believe it or not, even I have dark days. So many people say I’m the brightest sparkle that they’ve ever known. And I appreciate that. But mental health can be a battleground between your demons and your angels and you have to find your path through.
So carry a machete and get to choppin’ because it’s not that anybody has a perfect life. It’s how they deal with the problems that threaten to overtake them.
Christmas can be an anxiety ridden time. Presents are bought that really aren’t affordable. Time is spent shopping for stuff nobody needs. The constant bustle of fulfilling obligations instead of reflecting on what the meaning of the holiday is.
What are your traditions? Baking cookies with your mom? Hunting the perfect tree at a nursery? Card games Christmas Eve? Holiday cookie swap with your neighborhood friends? Making a trip to Biltmore or Opryland with your closest friends? Is it Candlelight service at church Christmas night?
I go with the flow and try to say yes to everything I can. I missed the library Christmas party because I was out of town for another party, but luckily I got to attend a retirement luncheon today with the same group. It was my second retirement party of the week, actually. The other one was for an engineer at work who retired at the start of Covid and never got a proper send-off. It was in conjunction with our holiday meal which was actually prayed over, believe it or not. Federal employees praying, it really MUST BE Christmas.
After lunch, I went over to my new good friend Stacy’s and (semi) helped her decorate. We got distracted a hundred thousand times, but we did manage to get both trees decorated. This was my favorite, and I sorta welled up, because it wasn’t a planned party. It was just a normal Saturday and she thought enough of me to invite me over just to hang out in pajamas and do whatever. To be included and accepted into the core fold and have no reason for celebration….It was Christmas.
Last night I hosted a few of my good friends for a supper and crafts evening. It’s times like this I wish my house was bigger because I’d like to have alllllll my friends here with all my crockpots going (Rhonda always requests a traditional Southern menu: kraut & smoked sausage, fried taters, cornbread, soup beans, and my syrupy sweet tea). We had a wonderful time and I can’t wait till Christmas next year, we’ve gotta find another excuse to party before then for sure.
I talked to my bestie this morning and we exchanged compliments of a superficial nature (I like her eyebrows, she thinks I have beautiful skin) and it was nice to hear. We don’t have to live next door to be close in hearts (BUT IT SURE WOULD BE NICE, JUST SAYIN’).
Not pictured: Christmas party for work but I promise we had one and it was fun! It was pouring the rain but Miss Betty got to join us, thanks to Lynn going to get her. Always so good to see that sweet lady.

So THIS is my Christmas. It’s not Christmas morning with kids tearing into the latest electronics. It’s not burning up the plastic at Five Oaks. It’s not blow up Santas in the yard or a fancy sit down dinner with relatives you barely tolerate scraping silver on Wedgwood.
It’s friends. Maybe friends I see once a week or once a year, but it’s spending time with them.
It’s friends that became family.
It’s love, warts and all.
This is my Christmas.
And I couldn’t be more grateful.

You are all in my heart, even if we haven’t exchanged a hug or even a text this season. ❤️❤️❤️

From the NFR party that I didn’t know I was supposed to dress for. So I showed up positively ROCKIN’ my Matilda Jane and Hey Dudes 🤣🤣 but it’s alright, I showed ’em ALL how to walk in 5″ hooker heels with a pizza box on my head while rapping some Eminem. #talent