I have started this page in my head more times than I can count. I have actually been writing it since December 1. Every time that I would think that I had my idea concreted enough to blog about it, something would happen that made me rethink it. After a few days, I would start over with a modified idea and again something would happen to change my thought process, and so on, and so on. I'll give you an abbreviated rundown of my month's worth of failed attempts before I get to my actual current thought. Hopefully, that will help to make sense of this current entry.
My first thought for this entry was how was I going to deal with spending my first Christmas without my Chillin' and Grands. I must admit, I was feeling more than a little sorry for myself thinking about all what I would be missing. After all, in all my years of being a Mountain Mama, I have always had at least two of the Chillin' if not all three in my house over the Christmas season. Plus I have always been blessed with getting to watch my Grands open all of their gifts on Christmas. Well, that poor me story wasn't long for this world because I received word that our oldest Chile, her hubby and their mountain pup would be trekking up from Florida to spend Christmas with us. This renewed my Christmas joy. Mountain Man and I set out every Christmas decoration that we have. We decorated inside and out. Thank goodness I always dreamed of a mountain Christmas because I had everything that I needed to decorate our mountain cabin. We did get a new Christmas tree, though. Since this is my first vaulted ceiling, I felt the need to have a tree that I had to stand on a ladder to put the angel on top, that was the only new decoration that we sprung for. I must say, our cabin became a warm and welcoming Christmas mountain retreat. Everything inside was adorned with lighted pine roping, beautiful red cardinals and pinecones galore. Add in the bluegrass Christmas music playing in the background and I felt like I was living in a Hallmark movie!
My next thought was about Christmas gifts or lack there of. We along with our Ohio Chillin' decided not to exchange gifts this year, but to adopt families in need instead. I am so happy with this new tradition that I hope it is one that we will carry on for many years. Our token Son's wife (our daughter of the heart) is such a thrifty shopper that it was truly amazing at all of the wonderful gifts that she was able to buy for all of our families. As I said, I hope this tradition continues for a long time, but I LOVE giving to my family, so that was a very difficult thing for me to come to terms with. There would be no gifts from Mama this year. Well, no one said that I couldn't MAKE gifts! I ended up spending two solid weeks crocheting and sewing until I had a large suitcase full of homemade gifts to send up to Ohio with our oldest Chile when she went up for a few days. When there's a will, there's a way, I always say!!!
My next topic was going to be not getting to be with the Grands when they opened their gifts. Anyone who has ever been blessed by being with little ones at Christmas can appreciate the joy and awe that they bring to the season. Because of my thoughtful Token Son, I didn't have to miss it this year either! Through the miracle of video chat, I was able to watch my Mountain Babies open their gifts and had a wonderful visit with them. Even though I couldn't feel their little arms around my neck, to hear them say "I love you, Bhakti" warmed my heart just as much.
Our Christmas Eve was a joyous day. My oldest and I spent the entire day baking cookies and Christmas goodies. It had been a really long time since she had been around when I was doing my baking, so it was a special gift to me to get to spend the whole day baking with her. I hope she knows how much that time together meant to me.
Christmas day turned out to be an unusually warm and sunny day. After having a leisurely morning of opening gifts, breakfast, and long distance phone visits, we threw our Christmas roast in the crockpot and headed out to Meeks Park. Meeks Park is our local community park which I have never seen the likes of in any of the states that I have visited. It is filled with beautiful walking trails along the river with swings located every so often so you can rest and enjoy the river view. Baseball fields galore, multiple playgrounds, basketball courts, tennis and pickleball courts and of course the beautiful community pool dot the rest of the several acre park. The park was teaming with people that also wanted to enjoy the beauty of our Christmas day. As we walked along the trail by the river, everyone that we passed wished us a Merry Christmas and a good day. It made me feel that we were celebrating Christmas not as a few people in a family, but as part of an entire community. What an awesome gift!
My Christmas carried over to December 26 when our Ohio daughter surprised us by making the drive down to spend the rest of the week with us and her sister. If I live to be 100, I will never tire of those kinds of surprises. Needless to say, the rest of Christmas week was filled with the joy of family. We visited, shopped, ate, and most importantly, enjoyed each other's company.
Now it's New Years Day. The Chillins have all gone to their respective homes and the cabin is quiet once again. Last night, after Mountain Man retired early for the last night of the year, I sat alone in the living room. I listened to the quietness of the cabin and our forest around us. I reflected on the past year and all of the happenings, both good and bad. If you ask just about anyone, me included, they are glad to say so long to 2016. It was a turbulant year at best filled with war, deaths, elections, crimes and depression. But, as I reflected, at least for me personally, for every negative thing that life threw at me, I was then gifted with at least double that in positive things. Sometimes, while in the midst of the dark night, we aren't able or willing to look beyond to the horizon to the sunrise. There have been many times in my own life that I am in the middle of a rough period that it is all I can do to muster the energy to keep moving forward. Through my Creator, I always do manage to do just that, keep moving forward. I do this because I have chosen to be a survivor. A happy survivor!
This is my New Year's wish for all of you, my friends. Be a survivor. I know that everyone wishes for good health, prosperity, happiness and all of the other cliches that go along with the beginning of a new year. I have found that if I only concentrate on surviving, all of the other goodies come along with the success of surviving. Everyone has to find their own personal way to get through the sadness, stress and basically crap that the world throws at us. Sometimes it's all we can do to remember that our Creator wants only happiness for us, and if we can keep on wading through the mire, fueling our strength with happy thoughts and memories, soon we will be standing in front of a beautiful sunrise of a new day.
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