A New Kind of Christmas

The year is 2011. Christmas at the Jackson house has changed. As Greg and I sat alone last night after our annual dinner at his parents' home, it sank in. The house was quiet. He drifted into a deep sleep on the couch and I, sitting in the silence, allowed my mind to drift to Christmases of yesteryear.

First, memories of a "ghostbuster proton pack", which I ordered at 3 different stores to ensure a certain four-year old boy would not be disappointed on Christmas morning. I thought of a three-year old little girl crying because she blew out a candle and ended up with hot wax on her sweet little face...I still shudder at that memory. A Christmas that Greg and I did in "shifts" due to a flu which we each took a turn suffering through. We still managed to make "creepy crawlers" and play several games of "Clue". Sweet afternoons sitting together in our tiny living room, eating popcorn and watching "Homeward Bound" and "Drop-Dead Fred". Visions of a tiny, glasses wearing, rambuntious little girl spinning round and round in her aptly named "Wild Thing"! Then so many bikes, s cooters, and rollerblades I can't recall them all! Always on Christmas Eve watching "It's a Wonderful Life", then in later years "A Christmas Story" and "The Nativity Story". So many traditions and memories engraved in my mind.

Today, my 27-year old son is here, after six Christmases without him, and for this I thank God and am grateful. And I am also glad the proton pack was under that tree some 23 years ago! My daughter, now 23, is married and has enjoyed her first Christmas with her new husband. She has truly found her soulmate and God has been so very good! I can honestly admit now that I'm glad I gave into the workbench the year she was 7. Otherwise she would never had made a birdhouse with her dad at her side.Our youngest, the baby, has begun to pull away a bit in anticipation of her graduation from high school and the college experience she is so looking forward to. She still manages to spend time with us, which we treasure, but, as it should be, she has activities and interests which occupy much of her time. Do I regret the racecar track she loved that took us hours to assemble? Not for a minute!

So, with our son at a friend's house on Christmas evening, our daughter and son-in-law at home together, and our "little girl" visiting with her boyfriend's family, it is indeed a new kind of Christmas. One filled with much nostalgia and much joy and ever so much gratitude. God has blessed me with a tender-hearted, unselfish, loving husband and my children with a father whose love and devotion they will never doubt. Christmas in the Jackson house is alive and well!