Christmas Thoughts

The ground is covered in Manitoulin's first snowfall and the kids are outside making a snow fort, snow angels, and a very small snowman. With the white stuff covering everything my thoughts have turned to Christmas. It is now just one month away.

I started to make a mental list of all the things that I have to get done. Gifts to buy, recipes to get ingredients for,  baking, wrapping, writing Chritmas cards, and so on. Then I stopped myself and started thinking of what is really important to me.  I don't want to get sucked into the rush of the season. With living on Manitoulin that should be an easier task seeing there are no malls to feel the "joy of the season in".

Yes I love food, gift giving, carols, and everything else associated with Christmas, but what I love most is just having the time to spend with my family. When I was little my family was much larger. Everyone would always gather at my grandparents house on Gibson Avenue. The house was full of the smell of turkey, the noise of family, (Ukrainians seem to all talk at once) and the joy of the season. Whatever family squabbles were going on were forgotten for the holiday.

This time of my life at my grandparents house has long been gone and I have started my own traditions with my own family. Christmas is now always at my parents home. We will make the trip down to Burlington. The sights, and sounds are the same to when I was a child, but some loved ones are no longer with us.

I was thinking how quickly things can change. My grandparents lived a long and full life before their time had come. They were lucky to have that. We were lucky to have them so long. My parents are in their seventies and still seem young to me, but they both are having serious health concerns. My brother who is not much older than me has also had a major health scare. They have all been diagnosed at different times with cancer. My brother is a survivor, my mom just finished her radiation treatment for breast cancer, and now my dad has been diagnosed with cancer. My mom's prognosis is good while my dad's is not. I don't really want to think of the time when they are not here.

I am so thankful to have my family all together. As a child I never thought that things would change. I always assumed that Christmas would be the same every year. That was until my tenth Christmas. My grandpa had died then of cancer. My grandpa was my favourite person in the  world. So I learnt about loss early, and how quickly things can change. Family is precious. People will come and go throughout your life, but family will always be most important.

For this Christmas I am going to remember this, and hold them all dear. I am still going to enjoy the baking, gift giving, food, and everything else. With three children how can I not, but  I am also going to keep what is most important a focus as well. Christmas is such a joyful time of year. We have all lost loved ones, but I for one am going to keep those I still have close and cherish this holiday season together.