I’m writing this from the inside of a pup tent pitched in
the depths of my sister’s basement. Hey
that’s luxury, my brother and his wife have been allocated to the garage on an air
mattress on the back of a Dodge ram pick-up truck, with sleeping bags that are ‘good
up to minus ten’ ... at about minus twenty degrees Celsius, (newly married, so we
expect they’ll probably survive... body
heat and all that... – well, that’s the
story they’ll be getting when they arrive anyways --J).
One thing has become abundantly clear this holiday season is
that Christmas and extras seem to go together.
Extra shopping. Extra
food. Extra travelling. Extra visitors. Extra busyness. Extra expenses. Extra Stress.
Extra eating. Extra
calories. Extra Pounds.
Our ‘third’ Christmas feast is coming up tomorrow. Yes, I know.
I’ve been telling myself that my shrinking jeans must be a result of the
dryer too.
Tis the season of abundance.
The question is; the abundance of
what?
And just how much of that abundance will require some process of recovery come
January...?
A whole lot of you are already rolling your eyes, praying over
credit card statements and conducting internet searches for gym membership
specials as we speak...
In the midst of all that, one is expected to find the time
to enjoy and appreciate the people in our lives.
Sadly, many of us have forgotten
that finding joy has everything to do with us and less to do with the people
around us. We tend to find what it is we are
looking for.
So Christmas is the one season that highlights the significance
of relationships. It should remind us of
the
importance of adding value to the lives of the people around us. If this were
a measure of success, perhaps Christmas would be significantly less
stressful and it would indeed be a greater joy to see family at the end of the
year.
On my side, thankfully, the extras have been kept somewhat to a
minimum.
Seeing the family has been good, but... well..., my sister
has made brownies and so the extra
pounds... will just have to wait until January! 