My Christmas "feeling"

I love holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas. When I was a kid, it was easy to understand why I loved Christmas. I was an only child for nearly 14 years (until my FANTASTIC sister was born). I was the center of attention and Santa loved giving me presents! But Thanksgiving was always just as important to me and I didn't understand why.

I think I'm beginning to understand. It's people! I am really enjoying being around family and friends at this point in my life. I went through a period where I preferred to be alone but I am sensing a change in me and it feels very familiar.

When I was a kid, I loved being in the center of it, whatever it was. I wasn't the ringleader, necessarily, or the main attraction. I was reserved and measured, to be certain, but I didn't want to be left out of anything. That carried over into my teens and I grew up with a group of friends that really did know how to enjoy being in one another's company. I miss you guys and wish we could reconnect more often!

As I became a young adult, though, I felt less of a desire to be involved. After college, I think, I became a solo person. I had one or two people that I worked with that were very important to me, but we rarely if ever did anything outside of work activities. Even after getting married, I really didn't connect with the folks that we socialized with and I didn't have too many friends and even fewer buddies. I didn't realize how much I was missing that until I recently began to "venture out" again.

Everyone needs to have a gang of friends. It's not necessarily the guys that you go out and party with. I know I'm too old for very much of that! It's the friends that you can go out and be REAL with. I'm not downplaying family at all, but you need friends just as much. You need to have folks around you that love you for you and not just because of blood relations. I've had some great times with my friends this year. I look forward to all that we'll experience next year.

Family is important, though, as long as they are genuine relationships. We all need members of the family that you can just sit and talk to, without all the pressure and stress of "family junk" that usually comes along with the holidays. I think I'm lucky in this category. I love spending time with our families and it's one of the main reasons why I'm really enjoying these special times again. We can spend moments of time really experiencing one another and appreciating what we love about each other.

My Christmas wish for anyone reading this is a simple one. I hope you take the time to stop, sit down, relax, and share this time with folks who are special to you. Don't just tell people THAT you love them, tell them WHY you love them. It could be one of the best Christmas gifts you give this year.