Having just returned from Christmas in Arlington Texas with my brothers family, I sit in my favorite leather chair, alone, and contemplate the season. As much as I tried to get into the Christmas Spirit, it just never happened. As I get older, seasons come and go so rapidly that I hardly have a chance to get the feel. When I was younger, with young children running around, Christmas was very easy to feel. The excitement from my daughters would permeate the house like a wonderful infection that was impossible not to catch. Now that we are empty nesters, it's just not there much anymore. I do try to focus on the real reason for the season, and that gets me grounded. Maybe the way I've felt about Christmas in the past was really not what Christmas was supposed to feel like. Perhaps, I had fallen prey to the commercialization of Christmas with all the Santas, snowmen and reindeer. That is what always got me excited, the secular celebration of the holiday. I realize now that I was being foolish all those years. I missed out on the real feeling of Christmas. The real feeling should be one of incredible love of the Father and gratitude for His Son.
I will try harder in years to come to capture that feeling. I should really try to hold on to that throughout the year.
