Christmas time is the favorite time of many people, and while I realize other faiths don't celebrate it, for me it is perhaps the most important time of the year. Every year my family gets together and we share not only presents but the company of each other, as many families do. For me, this was the best gift of all, over any toy or game or anything else.
I suppose this comes from the fact I was extremely lucky as a kid. I had two grandparents, and so I got to go to two places for Christmas. My Grandmother on my Mom's side was a very stoic and stern woman, but for her Christmas was very much about Christ. My Grandmother on my Dad's side was much more Jolly. I would dare to say she was Mrs. Clause, and she would decorate her house and everything was bright and jubilant. It isn't hard to see which place I preferred as a kid, but looking back I realize how lucky I was to have both.
Both my grandmother's are gone now, and in their place is a void I can never fill. They both loved me, and I would give a great deal to spend another Christmas dinner with both if I had the chance. They are there in spirit, I know. We talk about memories we have, little jokes, fond things and even the tough times. In that way, the spirit of both lives on even as my family has shrunk a bit, we are no less content in our celebration.
Thinking about Christmas, I can recall only a few gifts I received, but I can close my eyes and pick several Christmas times from my memory. I can picture us all together in the snows of Lake Tahoe, with drifts as high as the porch. The air was so cold, the lake actually froze over, and we could walk out onto that ice. That year there was skiing, sleigh rides, and the warmth of the fire. In the cold, the mountains were clear gray against a sea of blue, set with white snow like something out of a fairy tale.
That to me is Christmas. The memory, the conversations and the togetherness. For many it is the same. So this Christmas time I wish any who read this all the love in the world. Whatever your faith, whatever your idea of this season, spend it making new memories for the next year.
