it's about family

this time of year for me is about family. as i think back to the oldest christmas i can remember with my family, i always go back to the same memory. i must have been about 7 and very much into santa. my family lived in a small town in the Caribbean and needless to say it was a place where people lacked a lot of things that we get to see as normal in the u.s. but regardless of what we didn't have, i remember the way our family came together and celebrated. my mother, before anyone in our household sat to eat, made sure one plate was served with a bit of everything for our closest neighbors on both sides. they did the same. it was like sharing the joy in our home with our neighbors, who were like family too. that night my memory flashes forward to leaving cookies for santa (might have been the first and the last time i did that) and waiting for my gifts, which my mother made sure my cookies disappeared and my toys appeared. she even left some by the window so i would think santa dropped it on his way in. oh the joy of my innocence that year. today about 20 years later i dont believe in santa but i believe in family and i believe in the love that i get to share and receive from them this time of year. it really is priceless to share this time of joy, when we all put aside differences and just get along. it's a sacred time of cooking, sitting together and giving gifts to one another to remind us that we are loved.

it's good to be home. it really is.

i pray you all enjoy this time of year in which ever way you celebrate it and however you believe. im happy to celebrate christmas with my family and my hope is that they would know jesus and the true meaning of his birth, death and resurrection.

enjoy my friends.enjoy.