The Last Month

December always seems to exist in such a blur doesn't it?  

Thanksgiving hits and then it is as if the fast forward button is pushed and without a second to breathe, Christmas Eve arrives and we begin to wonder what just happened.

Being my favorite time of year, the only thing I end up regretting at Christmas time is how fast it came and went.  It bothers me that such an amazing time could be over so quickly.  This year I took a different approach and decided to leave the stress behind, simply trying to enjoy the season.  Because isn't that what happens?  We get caught up in all the planning and preparing that we forget to embrace the beauty of it?

This year I laughed, hugged, drank, ate, smiled, and celebrated with family and friends.  I listened to Christmas tunes, I decorated a tree, I watched Baby Girl play with our Nativity, and I read Christmas stories.  I hosted friends, cooked, attended mass, went on walks with the family, attended parties and enjoyed some down time with the hubby and kids.

Some things I didn't do was visit a mall (thank you Amazon Prime and the greater internet...oh yes, and my UPS man), make Christmas cookies, worry about a clean house, get dressed some days, worry about calories, over-commit ourselves, worry about a properly decorated dining room table and many other things that just seem to cause a lot of stress over the holidays.

The outcome was a holiday season that I can say, for the first time in a while I TRULY enjoyed.  It is the first time in a while that I am not sad to see it end because I know I did everything I could to make it memorable.  I loved this year and learned a valuable lesson that I plan to carry on in years to come.  Christmas is not about what needs to be done but the joy and hope of life.  

When you take a moment and look back at the Christmas memories that are created every day, it is not the details that you ever remember.  

It is the smiles, the hugs, the laughs of your family and friends.  

Nothing more.  Nothing less.