Reflections

Ahh, this is a great time of the year. Everyone is in a good mood (for the most part ;P), time is spent with families, comfort food is served in abundance (at least at my house it is), I can wear all my cozy sweaters again and Christmas music is heard all around.
In this time of economic uncertainty, I am feeling especially thankful for the finanacial security God has provided us. Even now, if Adam were to come home one day and tell me he no longer posesses a job (which is becoming increasingly likely), I am certain we could get by if I went back to work full-time. These are scary times and I am constantly being reminded of the hardships people are facing out there when I go to work and hear all the beauty shop gossip. I honestly don't know how or when we as a nation are going to dig out of this, but we always do. I hope that this will teach us all a lesson that we shouldn't be tempted to buy things that are out of our reach. I know I've learned my lesson. I look at my closet full of brand name clothes I don't even wear or only wore once or twice and I am disgusted. I currently have my once coveted Louis Vuitton wallet up for bids on ebay and don't even feel a twinge of sadness. You know, it's just stuff. In the end, none of it matters. The things in life that should be important like, oh I don't know, God, family and relationships have seemed to take the backburner in my life and I have had to reprioritize.
On a happier note, I am so excited for the holidays. We're going to fry up a turkey for Thanksgiving, eat some stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and some pumpkin pie. I'm salivating over the thought :). I love Thanksgiving. I'll always remember as a kid, sitting in the family room watching the Macy's Day Parade on TV. The one Thanksgiving I particularly remember was crisp and cool but the sun was shining on the deck outside the sliding glass doors, and my Dad's huge family was all coming over later. I must have been about 8 or 9. Mom was busy in the kitchen and the aroma of a great big turkey roasting in the oven was in the air. Later, I was playing a game called Enchanted Forest in my room with my cousins. (That's the best game ever, by the way). That memory is so vivid in my mind that I can almost feel myself there.
It's the holidays when I really miss the house I grew up in. To me, when my parents moved out of that house, it was almost like a death in the family. I have the same longing for the tangible memory of the house that I have for my Papa. Just about every Christmas that I can remember, I would go wake my brothers up and we would creep down the stairs in the dark to where our stockings were on the piano, and we would take them into the living room and tear into them and play all morning with whatever Santa had brought us while the Time Life Christmas album was playing in the background. I can just see my silly little brothers jumping around the house to "Feliz Navidad", or NaviDOT as they used to call it. Yup. That was the best house. Ever. It's hard to believe that some other family is now making their memories within those very same walls. I guess it's only appropriate that another family would be able to enjoy such a treasure of a place to call home. I am grateful to God that I am fortunate to have wonderful childhood memories such as these.
This year for Chrismas, we are going to change it up a bit and instead of slaving over a great feast, we're just going to have a nice big breakfast and do whatever for lunch. I think a nacho bar sounds good. A number of my clients have told me that the idea sounds great and they are now considering doing the same. I also think I might just spend the whole day in my PJ's. I'm looking forward to seeing how Brianna reacts to Christmastime this year. She's just so full of wonder now, and really aware of her surroundings. I think she's really going to enjoy it.
Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and hopefully we'll be spending a lot of it together!