What Christmas Should Be

The gifts, the festivity, the chaos, the stress....all that fell aside in a moment this past Christmas Day. I looked around the room at the family members who were there, laughing, smiling, and enjoying the day with those they care about. In the past few years, three had battled cancer, one had lost a grown son, one had lost an unborn baby, two had been diagnosed with serious ongoing medical conditions, and others had worked through various other struggles. I've dealt with my own divorce, a very turbulent relationship that followed, and lived with the threat of unemployment for much of the past few years.

I won't say that those things didn't matter that day; of course they did - they are factors that contributed to the people we all are today. But on this day, at that time, those challenges helped us all to appreciate how special it was to get everyone together. We celebrated the day and each other, we laughed, we hugged, and we said "I love you."

I think this was the best Christmas I've ever had.

Cooking for One

Dutch ovens aren't nearly as much fun when you're alone.