Why this holiday season is different.

I imagine every holiday season is a little bit different than the last but as I approach this holiday season I realize that my life has changed dramatically this year (I learned how to use a MacBook for one example).

I've always loved the holidays...especially Christmas.  I grew up with the most amazing Christmas traditions ever.  Every Christmas Eve my mom's side of the family would gather together to eat and cut up and then in the morning I would go over to my Mama Lou and Papa's house for Christmas brunch.  I love Christmas brunch.  Mama Lou would make Breakfast Casserole accompanied by biscuits, ham, something sweet, and whatever else fancied her;  when she got cancer I took over the breakfast Casserole (with her guided instructions of course).  When she died, we continued the tradition and I became the chef...but it's not the same.  Of course.   But we adapt to this "new" feeling of Christmas brunch.

I still had Christmas Eve after all. The entire Carter clan gathered together always leads to stories that will never be forgotten (insert Merry Christmas from the Family song here).  However, this year we are one short.  On the long road to recovery after the untimely, shocking death of my uncle my family is still very much wounded and this Christmas is something I don't believe many of us are really looking forward to.

But there are good things this year as well.  For one thing, I've got to know my cousin Katie through hours in the hospital and on the phone and I've come to realize how much I absolutely love and adore her.  And how much I can learn from her.  I also realized how important my family is to me, and how quickly I could lose them--thus I packed up my bags and moved back to my hometown.  My family and friends are the same people and I felt a yearning to be closer to them.

My job stood in the way though.  After much prayer and following different avenues of thought something miraculous finally happened.  I landed a dream job.  A job that I didn't grow up thinking I would enjoy but now that I am in it I realize how comfortable I feel in it.  Teaching is easily the hardest thing I've ever done but for some odd reason the easiest as well.  I love going to work in the morning and the stress that this job comes with is easily replaced by the joy it brings.

So as I prepare myself for this holiday season (and the ungodly amount of candy corn I'm bound to devour) I'm quick to remind myself that life is short and to thank God for everything he gives and takes away.