Merry Snowy Christmas

Christmas has come and gone like a whirlwind in a snowstorm. It’s my family’s first Christmas without my mom. She passed away on June 5 unexpectedly. While I thought about her often throughout the season, it wasn’t until we all sat down at the dinner table Christmas Eve that I felt a tight squeeze on my heart. Mom loved all the dishes prepared from my Grandma Rose’s recipes. I missed her entrance into the house and her comments on how wonderful it smelled.

I mailed out more Christmas cards than in past years, although many were mailed after Dec. 25. I felt a greater need to either touch base or reconnect with family and friends. I heard a speaker once say that after we die, no one is going to remember the sales quota we beat, the ad campaign we created or the top title we reached. What people remember after someone has died is how that person treated others. Was that person especially kind? Was she dependable? Did he make us laugh? Was she available to talk to and was he a good listener? What is missing in our lives after that person is no longer present?

A reminder for me this Christmas is that Christmas should be a year-round mindset. The love, acceptance, forgiveness, togetherness and “gifting” should be our practice each day if we are truly celebrating Christ’s entrance into our lives. His birth is just the beginning. Putting that into practice for me will be the challenge. It’s easy for me to reprioritize things in my life when stress builds and work, people, pets and bills are vying for my attention. God, help Christ to shine through me even when my windows to the outside world are cloudy.