ALL SORTS OF PRESENTS

It is probably obvious by now that Christmas is my favorite holiday. There are an abundance of crystal clear joyful memories that makes it my day of the year. Interspersed among those memories are some painful ones, but they will never take away the power of the multitude of blissful recollections. I can appreciate how each person has his or her own favorite holiday for probably very much the same reason.

I also understand that the gifts we receive and give are not always wrapped in pretty paper with ribbons and bows. Some might even be unpleasant presents that we accept because we have no choice but to do so. It is how we handle those gifts that matters. Still other presents take away our breath or leave us feeling impossibly warm, yet no seasonal wrappings cover them.

As I sit here thinking about this approaching Christmas of 2005, I have already "opened" some tremendous presents. My husband and children are healthy, happy, and incredibly devoted to me. Sometimes it is almost surreal to recognize I am lucky enough to find myself in this position. I do not know what I did right to have them in my life; all I know is whatever it was, I did it damn well!

Then, there is the gift of my sisters, brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews, and especially my mother. There is not a single rotten egg in the bunch! They are a large package of laughs, love, thoughtfulness, and generosity. When I hear or read about people who have not had the kind of family life I have, at times I almost feel as though I need to apologize for having the genuinely close family relationships I have. That, however, seems to minimize their value in my world...which is unfair to them. I can be empathetic to those less fortunate and be sorry they had or have such bad experiences from the very ones who should be sources of unconditional love and acceptance.

My friends are beautiful gifts. Jewels all of them. I count the years I have known them, and it is slightly disconcerting when that count reaches such high numbers. Surely I am not that old! ::smile:: We have most assuredly shared the many growing experiences in life, and we have maintained our strong friendships throughout whatever curves life has thrown at us.

New and old online friends are treasured gifts that have blessed my year. I have some online friends who I consider to be friends in every sense of the word. Whether or not they are within touching distance matters not. Their contributions to my world are every bit as real as those of my 3D friends.

There are currently a couple of presents I have received which have me a bit discombobulated. My sweet dog goes to the hospital Monday morning for the removal of her left eye. My hopes that a prosthetic eye could be implanted have been dashed due to the fact every portion of her eyeball needs to be enucleated. I am terribly sad for her. The positive is the horrid pain she is experiencing from the ulcerated cornea and onset of glaucoma will be gone. Relief from her wicked pain is our gift to her.

The other present that rattles me and looms large this Christmas is the state of my gentleman friend's health. His condition remains critical. His holidays will undoubtedly be spent in the hospital, and his life will continue to cling in the balance. His family will find their own Christmases taking on a pall of darkness, just as his friends will find their thoughts turning to him in prayer. We will gift him with healing prayers or prayers that he finds peace.

I refuse to end this entry on a sobering note. Therefore, I shall tell you that I have not had to do any of my annual pre-Christmas snooping to find what hubby bought me! I already know what he got me. I have seen them, touched them, beamed at them, and felt totally pampered. He bought me dangly diamond earrings. I was lusting for a pair of them. He phoned me asking me to join him. He could not decide between two pairs. I told him to choose for himself...to surprise me. He was not willing to attempt that, and so I had to make the decision for him (and I ended up selecting the ones that were his favorite). Each one has 12 diamonds, and they will swing to and fro from my ear lobes when I am finally allowed to wear them (which translates to mean that hubby will NOT let me wear them until Christmas Day). They are gorgeous.

I am equally excited about the items I have bought for him. He has no idea what they are, and that tickles me. With him being so talented musically and being able to learn and play so many songs by ear, I got him a Dell DJ (eh, I prefer them over iPods) that stores an amazing number of songs. I have downloaded entire CDs of some of his favorite music, so he can then easily transfer them to his DJ. I also got him one of those very rare 1/2 pint glass butter churns, since he made butter with his father over Thanksgiving. There are several other smaller presents for him that I will put inside his stocking. For a man who practically always tells me to buy him nothing, he should like those gifts. And our children are gifting him with some very nice things; one being the ceramic tile for the floor of one of our bathrooms. I cannot wait to see his face when he opens each present.

Materialistically, we will have a grand Christmas. More importantly, the sharing of our time and love will be even grander.

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."  ~Dr. Seuss