So This Is Christmas

 I saw a post the other day saying something to the effect that once the glue that kept Christmas together was gone Christmases are not the same. I considered that sentiment for awhile and responded with something about new glue and new Christmases. Thinking more on that this morning I realize that Christmas like everything else in life is always in a state of constant change. The Christmases when I was a little girl were very different than the Christmases of when I was a young mother. People talk now of Covid Christmases and lament not being able to gather in large groups. Some traditions changed because of a global Pandemic and some were added. Loss changes Christmas and makes the approaching season challenging for many. What then is the glue, might be the question. Many cling to the 'reason for the season', some concentrate on the gift giving, some the food, some the music and some clutch to the  grinch-ness of the season. I know what my glue is and my intention is to fully embrace it this Christmas. My glue is memory, family, gratitude and adapting. This Christmas is being held in two locations for me. I have a small city space that is offering me comfort and joy and a country home  that  holds past blessings. present gifts and future hope. Another Christmas approaches and will not be exactly like any other. Caleb cut the tree and he and Jenna stood it in the same corner as last year. Jenna and Cody put the lights on it. The rest of us will add ornaments and sit around the twinkling beauty of it together. My beloved Nativity figures are set up in my small city space and I look to the one flickering candle as a clear beacon of hope. I can not even begin to list the multitude of blessings but see a warm winter coat hanging in a cozy safe, space and gaze at a small tree holding some of my winter garden ornaments and feel the blessings of what another Christmas gives us despite the changes and challenges and people who are missing. John Lennon's Christmas song echoes my son's voice and made up lyrics as it always does and a smile accompanies the tears. The glue is us and we make the choice of what another Christmas has to offer.