Merry Christmas from the Meidells!
I hope you know how grateful I am that you still keep showing up here, even though blogging has supposedly been “dead” for many years now. I appreciate every single one of you, and I hope you have a restful end to your 2021!
Yesterday (Christmas Eve), we spent all day at family events, hopping from one thing to the next. The kids squealed in excitement over their presents, we felt surrounded by love, and I maybe might have almost teared up at the little Christmas “program” we do with Matt’s extended family each year, where the kids all dress up as different members of the nativity, and we all sing hymns and read the New Testament account of the first Christmas.
As we drove home later that night in the dark, with Christmas carols on the radio and our kids “singing” along in the back, my heart felt so full.
I know it’s way too easy to focus on all the hard and those things causing me worry, but this month of December (mostly thanks to the Christmas Presence email series I was working on for anyone looking for a bit of a spiritual boost this Christmas), I’ve been largely at peace and filled with gratitude for the overall very, very good year we’ve just had.
Has it been an “easy” year?
No.
But I’ve finally stopped equating “easy” or “without challenges” with “good.”
Instead, I can see that we’ve been given so many opportunities to grow, so many instances of tender mercy and relief, so many moments of joy with our family, and so many chances to look outside of ourselves and serve and love others. I was given the chance to see a long-term pipe dream of mine — flower farming — actually come to fruition, and my husband was able to see a long-term pipe dream of his — finally convincing me to let him get a puppy of his own — actually happen.
I’m no longer trying to predict what the next year will bring (I have 2020 to thank for that), but I see some wonderful things on the horizon for us, some opportunities for growth, and hopefully a lot of warm family memories mixed in.
I love you all, and I wish you all the best in the new year!
