Beginning of the Season

I really love this time of year. Christmas Day was my mother's birthday, and she always went out of her way to make it special. Of course, she had to. She said that as she was growing up, people would give her one present and say "Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas!" It was like she didn't really have a birthday. That was the main reason that we celebrated the December birthdays of two of our children in June--we acknowledged their real birthdays but had the party on their half birthday.

For my mom, you can imagine that it didn't get any better when she was an adult with a family. A mom getting her birthday off? And that day off just happens to be Christmas?!?! *gasp* So she made it worth giving up her birthday for.

She died when I was 14, and it still makes me sad as I have realized how special she was that I haven't been able to tell her that. She would have been 81 this year. It's hard to believe that next June she'll have been gone 40 years. But I have great faith that she's just waiting for me on the other side of the veil, and I will have my chance to hug her and talk with her again. We'll have so much to catch up on.



"Until one feels the spirit of Christmas,
there is no Christmas.
All else is outward display--
so much tinsel and decorations.
For it isn't the holly,
it isn't the snow.
It isn't the tree
not the firelight's glow.
It's the warmth that comes
to the hearts of men
when the Christmas spirit returns again."
-- Anonymous