Christmas holidays with family and friends is the best Christmas gift I could have received.
This Christmas was the best Christmas I have ever experienced. It wasn’t because of the presents I received or the food I enjoyed but it was the people I had the pleasure of being around this past week.
We had to change our schedule in order for my son and his family to visit their new niece in Reno on Christmas day so we moved everything up a day.
On Monday, December 23rd we had our traditional Christmas Eve picnic with my son and his family where we enjoyed spending time playing games and sharing Christmas memories around a plethora of meats and cheeses, various bubbly beverages and desserts. I also had the pleasure of playing with my granddaughters.
On Tuesday, December 24th we had our Christmas day where my wife and I had the pleasure of watching our granddaughter Adeline open her first Christmas presents and shared our traditional breakfast of Spinach Feta Strata. and later that evening we had Prime rib, mashed potatoes, and green beans but for me, it was the making of new holiday memories that made it special for me. I left my son’s home that evening on cloud nine!
On Wednesday Christmas day I had the pleasure of joining my family for dinner in San Francisco it was a four-hour drive to my cousin’s house in Redwood City where we spent 5 wonderful hours catching up with my side of the family and my son, his wife and our two grandchildren were able to join us for the second year in a row. We enjoyed a White Elephant gift exchange that was hilarious and received some unexpected gifts. Before we headed for home we took a photo of the next generation and their kids and were amazed at how it did not seem that long ago they were teenagers.
This year we had a couple of people missing because of my sister Christine passing away from several health problems and my cousin Lori who we lost in April of this year. Because of their passing, their husbands did not want to come to the event. I was also missing my Mom and Aunt who always made the holidays very special with their loving hospitality.
What was so interesting about this year was the next day during my morning meditation I began to realized how many of our loved ones who passed on I could see in their children and I was even able to remember the hugs from my mom, my aunt, my sister, and my cousin.
For anyone who has lost someone and is missing that family member at this year’s holiday celebration just remember the last time you hugged that person, feel the warmth of their body against yours and know that they are still live on in you and your brothers and sisters. Practice exchanging the thought of loss and sorrow for memories of joy and love and pass on those loving tendencies, stories, and traditions to your children so those memories live on generation after generation.
Please leave a comment about your 2019 Christmas experience.
I hope you had a Merry Christmas and wish you a very prosperous New Year.
