what matters most

Eight years ago, Sean and I bought ourselves a Charlie Brown Christmas tree and stuck it in a large stock pot (didn't you know that's what you do when you have no money, and you were just gifted 3 stock pots at your wedding?) We didn't own any ornaments, only a string of colored lights and two stockings. I was teaching at the time, and the closer it got to Christmas, the closer I wanted to do the opposite of everything Christmas-sy. From what I could see, our apartment was as decked out as it was going to get for the Holidays.

On one such day when school had just ended, and I sat in front of a pile of art projects to be graded, a thought came to my mind to just leave it and head home. FYI, this thought came to me often when teaching but this particular occasion was different. :) I felt so guilty for not making Christmas more special for Sean and I, and I was about to make that a slightly better situation.

I ran into a store and searched through baskets of ornaments to find one that would be our special ornament; one that in 5, 10, 30 years from then, we'd look at and remember what it meant to be family, just the two of us. And in those moments of reflection, we'd see how truly blessed we have been ever since.

This year when Sean and I pulled the ornament from its box, we talked about this past year, its ups and downs, its challenges and moments of pure joy. I cried, then laughed a ton, then cried again, and sat in awe as we went through our blessings one by one.

Our kids
Our parents
Our siblings
Our friends
Our home
Our health
Our faith
Our happiness
Our memories
Our love

Blessings.