No Snow, No Tree and No Money for Shopping...still A Merry Christmas?

I have always loved Christmas. I believe that it really is a magical time of year. Some people get aggravated by the quantity of people rushing through the stores and the potential for snow and ice to make traffic delayed and the constant solicitations from charitable organizations. Not me. It's all just part of the holiday magic. The hustle and bustle of trying to find the perfect gift for friends and family, the beauty of snow falling and the ringing of the bells are all just part of the holiday season. However, they are just part of the whole and without any of that Christmas is still one of my favorite times of the year.

Usually at this time of year I would be happily decorating our tree and making trips to numerous stores looking for presents for family and friends. The house would constantly smell like cookies from all my baking and we would be sending out holiday cards. Unfortunately, this year has not exactly gone as planned for my family. I think that the saying, "The best laid plans..." has pretty much underscored every decision we have made and some that we didn't have much choice in at all. Our old tree was disposed of last year with the thought that it was falling apart from too much traveling across the country and we had planned to get a new one this year. Now we are not in a position to purchase one so we are left without a tree. We relocated to southern Virginia last year and far from being snowy, it was close to 80 degrees today. We do not have the extra money in our grocery budget for extra baking supplies so there will be no Christmas cookies to bake and decorate. Worst of all, we have no money to purchase the gifts that we would love to buy for our family and friends. All this being the case, some would say that it would be difficult to get into the Christmas spirit. I disagree.

I am not the most religious person in the world by far. However, what I do have is faith. I firmly believe that God does not give us more than we can handle and that sometimes we need to have struggles to appreciate the times without them. What better time to remember these things and be thankful for what we do have than during the Christmas season? Christmas, at its heart, is about love. God's love in giving His only son so that we could all be forgiven and look forward to everlasting life. The love of parents who stay up all night on Christmas Eve putting together bicycles and wagons and wrapping presents so that they can watch the joy on their children's faces when they see that Santa Claus came. The love of friends and family coming together from all across the country to spend this precious time together. Celebrating that love does not require snow or trees or trips to the department stores.

Aside from our financial struggles we have a lot to be grateful for about this year. We've been able to have more frequent visits with family and friends since our move back to the east coast, we have a beautiful little girl who is full of joy and laughter and reminds me daily to enjoy the small wonders in life, we are expecting a son in March and despite some irregular results on the initial ultrasound scans the doctors now think he will likely be born perfectly healthy. As for Christmas itself, my husband has nearly an entire week off of work so we can travel to see our parents and enjoy a relaxing visit. My grandmother and her husband will be flying in from Kansas as well and that is worthy of celebration in and of itself.

When we get to my parents house this year there will surely be a tree and probably homemade cookies as well, there may even be some snow...but most importantly there will be the chance to spend time celebrating the love that is the true magic of the holiday. I can only pray that everyone else is as lucky as we are this year.