This Christmas...

It is snowing outside this morning.  It is still very early and everything is quiet and serene. The Christmas tree is twinkling in my family room, and two pups and one cat rest near it sleeping peacefully. The first coffee of the morning is brewing in the pot, and, for the moment, everything seems right with the world.  It feels unhurried to me; the way that the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas are meant to feel.  Peaceful...tranquil...and full of happy promise.  I want to capture this moment and hold on to it throughout the season. I want to make this year a special one, that I will always cherish and remember.
I don't want to let this feeling slip away as I shop for all my presents.  I want to savor the moments spent finding just the right gifts, as well as the time I spend wrapping each one of them up, in lots of Christmas love and ribbons.  I want to remember to really be present as I attend mass on each Sunday, and to let the peacefulness of the ritual wash over me and then remain with me the whole week through.  I want to know that I was mindful of the things that really mattered...and that I didn't waste a minute of the gift that is this sacred season.
Blessings ~ Amycita~   

NIECES AND NEPHEWS

Since God expected that the relationships with our own children would sometimes be contentious in nature, He mercifully gave us our nieces and nephews, to make up for it.  This way, at any given time, we could be comforted with the knowledge that there were at least SOME children in the family that actually liked us.  The relationships we have with our nieces and nephews are always delightful ones; unfettered by the usual constraints one is bound by as good parents.  We have no need to discipline them, because that is what God gave you brothers and sisters for, thus, enabling you to appear much nicer than them, by comparison.  Plus, it can be viewed as a form of penance that your siblings have been given for all the mean things they did to you as children, when, on occasion, it appears that their children are more fond of you, than they are of their parents...It is satisfying relationship on so many different levels.
I have always enjoyed the time that I spent with my nieces and nephews, and regret, that in recent years, that time is never often enough.  I have savored all their moments of triumph; in academics and sports as children, and in career and parenting choices as adults. Perhaps, most of all though, I cherish the moments spent with them, just listening, as I catch up on everything that is going on in their worlds, told from their unfailingly, humorous perspectives. On a few occasions I have listened to them share their sorrows too, and when I go to bed at night I pray that their burdens might be lessened and that future sorrows will be few.
I feel a deep and abiding love for each of my nieces and nephews; these remarkable children of my siblings and their spouses.  At times I look at them, and, for a moment, a long-forgotten memory from childhood is rekindled, as I catch a fleeting glimpse of my brothers or sister, or of Dave's, in one of their gestures or expressions.  I look at them and see the best of all of our siblings, passed on to this next generation, and I recognize that they are both the links to my future, as well as my past.
This weekend I will be attending the baby shower for my nephew Andrew, and his lovely wife Kyle.   Just as I have with each new addition to our ever-expanding family, I am filled with a sense of contentment that our family endures and grows.  So, congratulations to Andrew and Kyle, and to all my wonderful nieces and nephews and their children...my life is better, because each of you are a part of it.
 ~ Blessings-"aunt" amycita~ xoxo