The Take

As you will probably still remember as we are in the all-too infamous "come-down" phase, Christmas was last week. And me & Clint took quite the spread of presents. It was a wonderful, magical Christmas.

Clint & I spent nearly every night out with family or at some other Christmas-y festivity beginning Dec 12th through Christmas day. Quite the whirlwind. And I won't lie, I got stressed sometimes. You know, just the inevitable hair-pulling, back-and-forth rushing, frantic WalMart shopping-cart-racing, gym-neglecting type. The usual. (Ha ha.) But I have to say, now that the Christmas tornado has passed and most of the Christmas wreckage has been cleared away, I count all the Christmas parties as part of our take as much as our many and generous gifts. (Honestly, I feel like a kid again. I have some fantastic gift cards and electronic toys and house decorations that I simply can't wait to play with! Meh heh heh.)

This year more than past years for some reason, it was the family parties that brought me into the "Christmas spirit." Maybe because it was so hard in coming. I have a theory about this:

This is my first year out of school. MY. FIRST. CHRISTMAS. OUT. OF. SCHOOL. Just a seemingly uniform stretch of days working full-time in the same cubie September through December is not ideally conducive to acute season recognition. So, yeah--guess you could say there's more than a couple of things I miss about college.

I'm usually one of those people who start playing Christmas music right off the bat, November One. My dad does this too. Drives my mom crazy. But this year, when people at work started playing Christmas radio stations the week of Thanksgiving, I was like "Get OUTTTT." And then I was surprised to realize that I hadn't even thought of turning on Christmas music myself. Saddening. Even in making conscious efforts at Christmassy-ness, I never felt that little magic spark that makes your heart catch and puts chills down your arms (kinda like when I try on my Halloween costume.) Just didn't happen this year.

UNTIL the weekend of Dec 20th. Family party followed family party and I discovered that I remember more of Clint's Johnson cousins than I thought I would from last year. I found myself singing impromptu carols with my cousin Jake on our grandparents' piano while family members accumulated around us to listen. I found myself tying 5-dollar bills with my little sister on a money tree to give to a family I didn't even know. I got caught up in dusty photo albums for hours looking at old wedding pictures of my mom and dad and aunts and uncles, and then all the following baby pictures of my cousins and myself. I felt like I truly have acquired new brothers and sisters by marrying Clint when we sat around together on the eve of Christmas Eve. I just felt genuinely loved by everyone. And I think THAT is what made me think of Christ the most. Because I have such a wonderfully blessed life and such an amazing and ever-expanding family.

So I hope the Christmas spirit comes a little easier next year if I remind myself of where the magic really was this year. I'm so grateful to everyone who has been part of mine & Clint's life. We love our family. It is ONE family. I hope everyone had a Merry Merry Christmas. Happy New Year to all!