A Little Taste of Christmas

The Christmas season is always a strange time of year for me. I am often betwixt with being joyful and giving, but stunted with negative memories and the stress of the season. Many things have happened that can make it challenging to want to be active during the Christmas season, so I am very grateful that this year it was very low-key.

I had the blessing of being with my fiancée's family this year. Her dad made brisket, it was so good. You would have believed you were at a 5-star eatery with what he cooked. Salad, other things I cannot remember because poop memory. But, it was great. Me and Anna got an absolute haul, so many cooking things from her parents, a cute shirt from my lovely Anna, and I had a very fun time taking her out as a gift. Yesterday, I took her to the mall and she got a new top and a candle. I also got her a couple new video games and her very first professional massage! She really enjoyed the gift, I am so thankful that I had the means to gift that day to her.

I got to spend an evening with my brothers which I consider to be a present in itself. I watched Jesse and Dyami play some video games, Jesse cooked us dinner, and we chatted for a while. It was a lovely time. I am most definitely more sentimental than they are, but they are good bros.

With the stress I feel with the Holiday season, I am enabled to enjoy it more thanks to Anna's family. They bring out the childhood wonder that should come with Christmas. For some time, I was feeling it fade. But how they decorate, lightly tread the mood, and how Anna's mom especially takes the time to be festive it really makes the world feel brighter. It is a privilege to be a part of it.

I pray I can do for my family what Anna's parents do for theirs. Welcome others into their home, make meals full of love, gift thoughtfully, decorate magically, and make it about Christ. I hear often people saying how Christmas is not about the gifts, but the people. However, I do not think this adage is said enough! You could be gifted something absolutely amazing, but is it really that amazing if you don't have the right people around to celebrate with? Items do not make Christmas as magical as the right people do. My fiancée's family certainly makes Christmas magical. I am grateful for this Christmas I had with them. I am grateful for my lovely fiancée, and I am excited for the few days of 2024 and to go into 2025 joyfully.

Almost forgot to mention I went Christmas caroling at Mercury Coffee with Bellevue Baptist, here is the only picture I took.