"It's a different kind of Christmas, in a different kind of world. Even though it looks the same, everything has changed. It's a different kind of Christmas!" ~LeAnn Rimes~

I can't believe that another Christmas season has already come and gone. It seems like it was just beginning, and here we all are preparing to bring in a new year in just a week. Christmas is such a wonderful time, and has always been my favorite time of year of celebrating Jesus' birth, everyone being together making memories, parties, festive outfits, food, lights, cute movies, and presents. I'm only 19 years old, but I think back to Christmases as a kid and how everything was magical and beautiful.

However, as you get older, you experience more; you learn about heart break, pain, and a darkness of the world that you never see as a kid. Sometimes Christmas loses a sense of wonder and excitement that you used to know at five. But, I think that's when we lose sight of what's important. Maybe that's our reminder that everything doesn't have to be perfect the way we think it ought to be in our minds (I know mine is pretty unrealistic most of the time). Christmas might not be the same as when we were little, due to the loss of loved ones, we've strayed on our walk with God, we've become greedy, bitter, and obsessed with what's under the tree rather than why we have a tree in our living room in the first place. I think when we get our priorities right, everything else just sort of falls into place.

I'm sure as most of us have learned by now, nothing in life is certain except death and taxes. Things change very often, and we're always on our toes wondering what's going to happen next. With every season of our life comes a great change, and the Christmas season is no different. So, maybe this Christmas wasn't exactly what it has been in the past, but out of that new traditions can spark. Something really beautiful can come out of something that you'd never expect a good situation out of. I know that's what has happened to me the past couple of years. I used to get really disappointed when things didn't go the way I'd planned all along in my mind, but now I think of it as an adventure, and it has worked out really beautifully.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas, despite what circumstances might have occurred this year.

With Love,
Shelby