Christmas 2008

A picture taken of me with my handy little phone camera!

Next year I am going to get it right! Seriously, there is a right way and a wrong way to do Christmas. Now, for those of you who do not celebrate Christmas, look away, change the page, move on as you will not understand what I am about to put to pen, or keys if you will.

Christmas for me is about the Christ child, and the child in all of us. IT is about Santa Claus and the wonder of discovering that you are loved. IT is about the joy in the moment. So what happens that makes it become, not, Right? Listen my reader and you shall hear a Christmas devoid of Holiday Cheer…

Seriously, I had an abundance of joy, inter-mingled with the yada, yada, oh boy not this again jargon. For me I did not have enough Christ child. I did not go to church, (for me this is huge, as for many years not only did I go to church, many masses in a day I was the cantor, the leader of song!) This year was a year that I did not sing at all! The extent of my Christmas singing was fulfilling the requirements and providing musical instruction, direction, etc., for the school I teach at. I also, with the help of my faithful friend SRC provide a music video titled, Jingle Bell Jazz a little number filled with all the staff that I work with everyday. The purpose; to entertain the children where I teach. The outcome? SRC was stressed and exhausted by the undertaking, due to the burden being dumped upon him! Oh, do not get me wrong, it will proved to be a wonderful thing as there will be lessons to learn, hearts to warm, and skills attained. I was fortunate as I began to learn more about my own musical abilities and technical attempts as I wrote, produced and recorded a “holiday” light jazz number. But all in all the focus of my music was not the Christ child, however I do owe all that I am to my Lord and God.

The other biggie in doing Christmas right is Family. What is family really? Why do so many make the mistake of disconnecting from the center, the core of who we are? As I pondered this more and more over the past week, (and borrowing from discussions with SRC) I have come to realize the DNA connection of family requires us to spend time with them, even if it is not the most desirable DNA in the world. As for me, I absolute rejoiced that I did see the family members that I did see. Some are connected by DNA, others, just deeply rooted friends. Family that become your friends are indeed the best!

Christmas was not done right this year for one primary reason. Too many of us did the readjustment dance instead of stating what each of us really needed. You know those non-negotiables, that we negotiate, alter, modify, only to discover that without them being maintained as the non-negotiable, the moment quickly passes, and that which makes the moment the “moment” only become longings for future attempts.

Now that all of this has been said, I can gladly say that this was the best Christmas of 2008 that I will ever experience!