Holy holly bells batman

My Christmas column for the Christmas issue of The Echo, which because of press schedules, is always done the week prior...

This year is going to be a very special Christmas in my and Ian’s family.
This year, for the first time in 10 years, Ian’s daughter Hayley will be with us.
And this year, we celebrate in our own home.
To say we should always count our blessings seems almost too cliché.
But as I wandered around my house this morning, frowning at the clutter that arrived in the living room yesterday when we had to empty out a room that needed some minor renos, I realized hey, this is our clutter, in OUR house.
So I scrapped the column I had originally written for this issue and started anew.
Our house. Our own piece of land, our own little space in the world to call our own.
And somehow ‘blessing’ seems too small a word to describe just how that makes me feel.
I feel like we had to make a choice a while back: not a conscious one, perhaps, but one that made all the difference in the world.
I have always tried to look for the positive in things, to see the bright side. It takes a concerted effort sometimes, but I’ve tried.
But while I am a positive person, there was still a tiny part of me that sent out a constant stream of negative: I was convinced we would never own a home here. I verbalized that sentiment. I believed it. It was a pathetic, self-serving, self-pitying emotion, a self-fulfilling prophecy. And hence, we did not own a home.
That little thing, that one conviction, can change everything, no matter what the focus of that negativity is.
I can’t tell you the exact date when I became aware of what I was doing. I can’t give you an exact time or place I decided that enough is enough. But I do remember making a conscientious effort stem that negative stream, to eliminate it from my being. And then on the drive home to Wilmer one afternoon, I saw a for sale sign. And here we are. In our home.
It is like we reached the crest of a mountain, and though there is plenty of journey left in front of us, with that negativity out of the picture, I feel stronger, ready to tackle the ups and downs ahead. Not because we bought a house, but because I stopped defeating myself.
Christmas is not something to take for granted. Food, gifts, warmth of home and warmth of heart are not common in the world. For some families it means nothing at all. For some children in care facilities (often there through no fault of their own), some as young as seven, it is “just another day in lock down,” to quote a friend. He, and others like him, do what they can to make Christmas happen for the children at one Calgary facility in particular, with gifts not just of the wrapped variety, but the gift of their time on Christmas day.
“It is such a privilege to be able to be with them while they open those presents, some of them children no one else wants…” His voice wavered at the end of that sentence, any words to follow left unsaid but understood.
Here in the valley, there are families who do without. Not always enough food, not always a gift to give or receive… but we have the Christmas Bureau and Angel Tree help those who reach out.
There are those here who do not for whatever reason access that help and if you know someone like that, please reach out to them. If you know of someone with no one to spend Christmas with, whether their family is far away or simply gone, invite them in.
This Christmas, our tree will shine extra bright.
Each friend that comes by, each family member we have with us, every morsel of food, every gift, every moment we have…none will go unnoticed.
Christmas is truly, in my heart, a time to be glad for all we have, for our family around us, and family far away (and my beloved bloggy family!).
Christmas is about love. And I have more love in my life than I could ever wrap in boxes and put under a tree.
Merry Christmas. Indeed.
S.