...So This is Christmas

Christmas Eve... there are four gifts under our tree this year. At first glance, it seems pretty sparse. I mean, how many Christmas trees only have four presents underneath them? But look closer. There are four presents. Four presents for four people who mean a lot to us. Four people who we are fortunate enough to have as family. Family that we could afford to buy small gifts for.

And it's not as if Christmas should be all about the gifts anyway, ya know? It's supposed to be about family and love and togetherness. For the first time in my life, and only by necessity, I have been forced into truly understanding what the season is all about, and it's not consumerism.

It's about the best friend that stopped by this afternoon and the laugh we shared. It's about the way my husband hugs me from behind while I'm at the kitchen sink washing bottles. It's about the dog whose furry body keeps my feet warm as I type this. It's about the cat peeking her head over the top of the monitor and swatting at the cursor.

It's about loving what you have in life, and not wishing for things you don't need. Sometimes in order to gain you have to give up. Give up the wants and the needs and the have to's and just be, and just enjoy being.

Jonas and Wil are side by side in the living room floor. Wil is sitting cross-legged beside the bouncy-seated child. The Grinch is on tv, and the two of them are captivated. They look like that scene in Forrest Gump. I am teary-eyed. Yep, it's the little things that matter.

Merry Christmas Everyone!