The Morning After

The morning after always brings that feeling of wishing it would of lasted just a little bit longer......After all the hustle and  bustle......Eating, laughing, preparing, and enjoying life's gifts we have a chance to breathe in all that was given. If only I could remember to capture these every day moments and treat them as if they were gifts all wrapped up....waiting for Christmas morning.

So what is the gift of Christmas?

To be honest my gift was really in the giving....My blessing was being able to see the gift being opened. Those are the gifts, the moments I remember. Faces all lit up. Smiles wide with thankfulness. My gift was in an old man's eyes when he came for dinner and sat and enjoyed our moments ...... My gift was seeing how thankful he was for the time he had spent with us because he didn't have to spend this Christmas alone.

My gift was hearing about a baby growing inside a young Mama's womb. My gift is hearing about precious life.


My gift was in the phone call to home..Every year I find a quiet room in our home away from all the noise. That's when I share my Christmas with my Mama, Daddy and Big Sister. It's the only way we have shared over the past 20 years. We all take turns opening up gifts and through the laughter and thankful shrills of giving and receiving my heart aches a little because I can't hug or touch with arms wide open. It's only with thankful words being said over air waves that I am able to...........send my love.

And sometimes I leave myself all wide open because that's the only way I know how to be. I share my heart and my mind because I want others to see their gifts.....the ones that are right in front of them and they never really realize how precious how, in the moment, their gift was always right there.

It's the gift of family. Whether near or far....In an old widower who shares our Christmas. It's in the laughter, the tears of being over tired and all raw and wide open. It's in the wanting to be real and honest. It's in learning how to let go of anxiety and learning how to hug and kiss because we just .........want to. Because we Love. It's in throwing away the awkwardness of all the years that there was no communication because it was just easier to build walls and shut down. It was just easier to avoid the gift of learning how to be a family and work things out. But then your missing out on the gift. The gift is found in the raw nakedness of it all. The gift is learning how to handle hurts and anger. The gift is learning how to just let it go because sometimes those issues really aren't worth hanging onto.

It's in the forgiving........Because we all mess up. Even when we have the best of intentions. It's learning acceptance of those who might be just a little bit different than you. It's in realizing how important family is no matter how different or strange we may seem to each other.

The gift is Love and Love came down for you and me. He came down all wrapped in flesh. The King of Kings. He teaches all these gifts. He came down bearing all these gifts so that we may live this life in the moments with forgiveness and HOPE.

He never promised us a perfect Family.......But when you are in the family of Christ your gift will always be JOY. It's a forever promise......A forever gift.

 And He's waiting to be received........