I’ll Be Home for Christmas

This year, I’ll be home for Christmas. It has been on my mind for the past day or so.

2007 was probably the only year during my lifetime that I was not able to be in Fayetteville at some point for the Christmas holiday, and it was the only year that I can remember I wished I had been there. I missed seeing the beautiful Christmas tree my mother picked out and decorated, the one she always wants to decorate with white lights to match the lights outside, but always decorates with colored lights because they remind her of her dad. I usually help pick the tree out, but this year I told my mom she could do it without me.

I had no idea I’d even care. I’ve always figured that as long as I was with my family, it didn’t matter where I was. My mom has always been big on traditions, and the older I get, the more I understand why. I love the process of how we do things to celebrate Christmas and it is only when they are absent do I truly feel their importance. Even as a twenty something, I stare at the Christmas tree in our den after everyone has gone to bed. I admire beauty in the decorations we put up to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. His sacrifice was for our opportunity to live and understand the importance of people, especially family.