Monday, December 29, 2008

CHRISTmas Past, Present, and Future







As the Christmas holiday soon approached us, I found myself thinking back so many years ago to my childhood. There is not a single Christmas that I don't remember. I can remember my mom putting up the decorations--I knew Christmas was coming!! I can also remember my dad going out to get the biggest tree he could find in the woods. (We used cedar trees in those days!) I even remember the feeling of excitement while lying in bed on those Christmas Eve nights. For some reason I always felt that someone was watching me through my window to see if I had fallen asleep. My brother and I could hardly sleep. One would get up and go get the other to see what the man in the red suit with the white beard brought us. After opening up our gifts we would venture out to my Grandparens houses--Granddaddy Crowder's in the morning for breakfast and Grandma Bass's for dinner. Even though the gifts of Christmas Past have faded and gone, the spirit is still within us! Christmas Present is upon us now and how things are so different. We no longer go to the woods to find the biggest tree. I opted this year not to have one, just a little one for Jackson. Yes, this Christmas was different because we no longer can venture out to see our Grandparents. Granddaddy is gone but his spirit is still with us! We are still blessed to have Grandma who is now living with my parents. But now my parents are Grandparents! What a joy it was to see my baby Jackson on Christmas! We are still able to visit with loved ones and friends on this joyous Holiday of our Savior's birth!




But what will next year really be like? Who will be available for celebrating Christmas in a year or ten years? How will the celebration change? Will the meaning of Christmas, the true story of its beginning, finally be totally erased from memory? The meaning of the season will always be with us as long as the word Christmas exists. Christ is in it! The spirit of love, peace, joy will carry on in families. Think ahead to the Christmas future. Think ahead but not as to the perfect gift to buy. Plan something that can carry on in the lives of a younger generation so they will never forget. TEACH them to carry on the gift of giving.

2 comments:

Lisa said...

Dawn, I really enjoyed reading this. So sweet. You are right...its amazing how things have changed. Those old pics were so cute.

Alyce said...

Hey Dawn...great post! Its so very important that we start thinking right now of what type of legacy we are leaving to our children. Sam and I talk about that often. We want our kids to have fond memories of family times. Unfortunately, it seems like we are too busy to get w/ extended family like we all did when we were younger. Maybe that is something we can work on in the next year. I love the pic of you looking at the tree. I was just looking at those pics in your mom's album last weekend. The lighting is just perfect in that pic. Oh...and they showed me the video of grandma and jack dancing.. Too funny!!