christmas cheer.

This Christmas is going to be quite different from any Jeremy and I have had thus far in our married lives, and before marriage no doubt as well. Our flat is not festooned with Christmas decor, there is no tree, and there are no stockings (though we do have a no-fire-allowed hearth, mantle and fireplace). We are in a country that is a thousand miles away from his immediate family, and a little less far from my own, but the distance is still uncrossable. We don't even have Cael with us this year. All of these things you'd think would make for a cheerless Christmas, if you put stock in all of those things to make Christmas eve and morning what they are. And yes, I'd love to be with the Foremans or the Barkers tomorrow and the next day. But this year will shall find our cheer in each other, in the traditions we can still uphold, in seeing Jeremy's aunt, uncle and cousins (we shan't be family-less on Christmas, and for that I am ever grateful), and also in focusing on what this time of year signifies for us. I think it's important to have Christmases like this every once in a while, to remind us that it's not the twinkle lights, stockings hung by the fire with care, stacks of perfectly wrapped presents, tinsel and garland, nor even the breakfast casserole and strawberry butter that is reserved only for Christmas morning (though I am definitely still making that this year). But it is about being with those you love, even if you cannot be with all of them, and about remembering that Christmas is about the life-giving joy that is realized in the birth of Jesus Christ and letting that emanate through your life to all those around you, not just family, nor yet just friends either, but that everyone you come into contact with can see the joy carried in your spirit with the knowledge of this season. I will try to be the bearer of that joy these next days, and hopefully carry it into the new year and beyond as well. Happy Christmas to all those who read this, and I hope yours is filled with the joy and uplifting peace of this season, regardless of your religious tendencies.

I leave you with a photo of our new city, taken yesterday as the sun was making her way to her nightly resting place illuminating the fallen snow and old stones of the city. This view is a gift in itself.

Joy to the world,

Caitlin