oh Christmas...

The first week in January is not my friend. I always get so sad when the Christmas season comes to an end. As a Christian, I realize that I celebrate Jesus' birth throughout the entire year, but there's something special about the time from Thanksgiving to New Years Day. Maybe it's the music. Maybe it's the excitement and anticipation of all the festivities the season brings. For me, it's the time of year where I can put on the records I listened to every December growing up, and remember the innocence of being a child at Christmas. Before the world came in and stole that innocence. Before my parents started aging and I came to the realization that they won't live forever. Before my best friend's parents got divorced and I realized that even "the perfect Christian family" wasn't perfect. Back when I didn't have to work at making the season magical. It just...was.

But now it's different. Now I'm the mom. Now I decorate and I bake and I make the season magical for my son. And I love doing it. Seeing him get so excited to get his candy out of the homemade Advent calender every night before bed...making his first gingerbread house with Grandma...and Christmas morning, opening everything from his Mommy and Daddy and grandparents and aunts and uncles (and of course Santa). It took quite awhile, but I was thrilled every minute watching his eyes just light up. But my favorite part of the season had to be cuddling as a family and watching old Christmas movies and reading together about the real story behind the holiday. These are the moments I hope he cherishes and remembers his entire life.

It seems like the day after Christmas, radio and tv stations drop anything Christmas related like the plague. I realize to them it's all about making money, an unfortunate result of our society's drive for profit. But for me, the entire Christmas season is about being reminded of that innocence...an innocence I think we all search to regain our entire lives. An innocence that drives us to believe that anything can be fixed and everything will be okay. That is why Christ was born that day, after all...to give us back our innocence, in every way. And maybe that's why the season is so powerful. It's a reminder to us that our hope is not unfounded, that we will have that lost innocence back again someday. When our Christ returns, we will be children again, forever safe in the arms of our Father. And everyday will be Christmas...an eternal celebration of His birth.