RE: The Season of Giving

It came on slowly for me this year, but I believe the Christmas Spirit has finally graced me with its presence.

I didn't put up any Christmas decorations this year, and I haven't been too giddy with excitement about much of the upcoming holiday. I just couldn't get into it.

Today I came home and was pleasantly surprised that my husband decided not to have band practice like he does every Monday evening. We have had to spend some time apart lately, and it was a nice change to sit next to him and catch up on each other's daily happenings. Since I got home from work a few hours later than he did, he mentioned he would just make some mac n' cheese for himself so I didn't need to worry about dinner, but I thought it would be nicer for us to eat together, a rare occurrence lately. So, I whipped up a simple, quick dinner and baked some cookies.

This simple act of making a small effort for togetherness, after all the stress we have encountered in the past several months with our jobs, family health issues, being newlyweds that never seem have time to see each other, and of course the crushing weight of our depressed economy (on top of our usual poverty) - lifted my spirits greatly. For him to say, "that was just what I needed, thank you", it made my whole month. It's a simple thing, but it felt wonderful to do something small and ordinary that made a difference to someone I care about and afforded me a chance to spend some more time with them. Well, the smell of warm cookies didn't hurt, either.

I hope to take some time to do some more small and ordinary things to make a difference for loved ones in the coming weeks. Happy Holidays!