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| Christmas 2011--Decorating the tree . . . sort of ;) |
I knew this Christmas would not be “normal.” Christmas
has not been normal for the past three years. (But what is a “normal” Christmas, anyway?!)
When I was a kid and my family lived in North Carolina,
we always stayed home for Christmas. My parents, my brother and I ate breakfast
and then opened presents around the Christmas tree. Later we would go to my
grandparents’ house and have Christmas dinner. Sometimes my aunt, uncle, and
cousins from Tennessee would come too. When my family moved to Virginia in
2006, our Christmas was similar, except that Christmas day was normally spent
with just my immediate family.
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| Nana and Grandfather's house--Dec. 2012 |
In the beginning of December, 2012 my Nana passed away,
about a week after she had a stroke. She was 91. I know that she is with Jesus
and is no longer suffering, but I obviously still miss her! Christmas in 2012
was the hardest because my Nana had just passed away a couple weeks before. We
spent Christmas in NC with my grandfather.
I miss picking out Christmas presents for Nana...she
was always the easiest person to buy for because she liked pretty much anything
I got her!
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| Me and Nana--a looong time ago ;) |
This year my grandfather is 95. I thought we might be
spending this Christmas at the hospital because grandfather was having some
major health problems, but he got out of the hospital a couple days before
Christmas. My family opened presents on Christmas Eve, went to our church’s
Christmas Eve service, and drove to NC on Christmas morning. We visited my
grandfather and had Christmas dinner with him and read the Christmas story.
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| Drive to NC on Christmas morning |
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| Squished in the car with Mandy :) |
In some ways, it may not have been the “ideal”
Christmas. But it was good. A fun, “normal” Christmas is nice, but it doesn’t
guarantee happiness. I’m learning to be okay with strange Christmases... and
strange holidays in general!
Why?
Jesus is with us, always, wherever we are. He will
never leave us. He is faithful. Jesus brings hope.
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him
the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took
place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will
be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him ‘Immanuel’—which
means, ‘God with us.’” Matthew 1:21-23
