a season of many things...

Christmas isn't Christmas,
'til it happens in your heart,
somewhere deep inside you is where Christmas really starts...
so give your heart to Jesus,
you'll discover when you do,
that it's Christmas, really Christmas for you... from Christmas isn't Christmas ('til it happens in your heart) Jimmy and Carol Owens (c)

a very commercialised season. the season to be jolly and exchange gifts and reunite with beloved family members...among other things.

a time to seek reconciliation. maybe it's foolishness, why dredge up old wounds and why bother? but believe the feelings that urge you towards seeking and giving forgiveness because along the way, Christ bothered enough to hang upon a cross for the sins of a people who couldn't care less.
and to recall the mystery and glory of a night two thousand years ago...a night that changed millions of lives as the ages have rolled past.

the end of the year is always a special time for me, i have never spent any Christmas away from home...it's always been celebrated at home with family, roast pork and potatoes and midnight mass...

and more than that, as the night sinks into quietness, after the carols and wishes exchanged at midnight mass...i say a prayer for the year and recall all His blessings in my life. i look back on how far i have come, how far i have yet to go and ask for His strength...the year comes back to me as a series of pictures complete with sound, some memories are more beautiful and vivid, some more painful, some faded and frayed but i welcome them all...though i flinch at the sharper ones. and i end with a prayer of thanksgiving.
and the christmas morn tiptoes in silently, no Santa to leave cookies for...i crawl into bed and sleep, readying myself to wake and watch the cartoon specials on tv the next day. christmas cartoons are balm for the soul.