Just 6 Months 'Til Christmas...

Yesterday, during a training session for Vacation Bible School I was attending, the facilitator remarked-- "Only six months 'til Christmas!", to which there was a collected gasp from the group listening.  I just smiled.  There was a time that I too would have gasped, but no longer.  You see, I really look forward to the holidays.  This is because for me, the meaning of Christmas has a vast difference than what the world would like us to envision.  Commercialism tells us we need to spend, spend, spend in order to be happy.  Yet, my most cherished Christmas memories are of those times when times were the leanest and gifts were either simple or non-existant.  The reason is because in truth, I have had the most richest of times being with family and friends.

In my extended family (the Lopez klan) we have a Christmas journal that each one of our family members take turns keeping for a year.  In that year, they record family happenings, maybe throw in current world events, and record their thoughts and feelings.  Each Christmas Eve, we come together, and after good food-- (oh, those delicious tamales,), lots of laughter, and reminiscing, the journal is pulled out and the family member who had it for the year reads their entry.  We laugh, and sometimes cry, as we hear what was written.  Afterwards, it is handed off to another family member who will take it home to keep it going for the next year.

So, yes, it's six months 'til Christmas.... I am looking forward to it, and for my sister Josie to have lots of good things to share from her turn with the journal.