Merry Christmas to all...

Christmas has never been my favorite time of the year. It has always been a time in which I felt oddly out of place, or even a little sad. Maybe it was the late night telephone calls when I was young that always seemed to say my brother could not get leave and would not be home. Maybe it was growing up in a house where both parents had jobs that required them to work on Christmas. Or maybe it is my growing unease at our willingness to be led down a path to commercialism, rather than a focus on family and relationship. My wife however, is a woman who loves Christmas. Everything about it. From walking the malls, to singing the carols, to setting up penguin families in our front yard. If it smacks of Christmas, she loves it. Sometimes I wonder if that song about Christmas being the most wonderful time of the year was written about her. Well this year, she outdid herself. To most of you, it will seem like no big deal. But to me, it shows me how well I chose to get a woman who would care for and look out for me like she does. As she was helping her dad clean out the house he grew up in before it was sold earlier this year, she noticed something he was going to throw out. It was one of those classic aluminum Christmas trees from the 60’s. The kind I had in my house as a kid. And she saved it. Along with the color wheel. And brought it home for us to put up. So tonight when we get home from church, we’ll have some nog, watch “White Christmas” and stare at our beautiful silver Christmas tree as red, green, blue, and gold colors splash across it, and I’ll be less sad. Feliz Navidad a todos, but especially to Chelle, my best friend, Merry Christmas.