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The celebration of Christmas for me has changed through the years. Today I find myself reflecting more on what is important in life, sort of like the last and ultimate stage of hunting, the “Sportsman Stage”, where success is measured by the total experience - the appreciation of the out-of-doors and the animal being hunted. It is also the process of the hunt, and the companionship of others.

Christmas, to me, is also measured by the total experience, only now with more with the appreciation of life, what God has given us and our duty as a Christian. It is what we do to celebrate it all by enjoying the fellowship of others.

We don’t often think about how, years ago, our actions would affect the memories of those younger, especially our children. It just always seemed important to be happy this time of year. Some of my fondest memories of Christmas as a kid, are not of how well I cleaned up with presents, but more of how happy everyone seemed to be during the holidays.

Now, having a family where our children have each branched out into their own adult lives, I long for any day we are together as a family. I worry how I perhaps hadn’t been as good as my elders with their ability to paint a perpetual smile on everyone’s face. I know how hard my wife has worked to make it happen, but I still questioned the end results, that is until a letter from our daughter Amanda arrived Christmas Eve a couple years ago.

She and her boyfriend Mike weren’t going to make it home that year, sharing their time with his family. So to make sure we felt her presence, she sent the following letter to be read to all Christmas Eve.

To All:

Mike’s Mom gave me this reflection on how we are so lucky in life. After reading it I knew I could not express my feelings any better. May we come together at Christmas and thank God for everything we have been blessed with. We are not perfect and never will be, but we are lucky.

Lucky to have family.

Some people will never have the chance to know the meaning of Family.

Lucky to have our health.

Some people may have not made it to see Christmas.

Lucky to have a home.

Some people do not even have a roof over their head.

Lucky to be loved.

Some people will never know how it feels to love or be loved.

With that we need to take what we have and be grateful. We may not have tons of money. We may not have the best of things. We may have had some hard times. We may have differences. We do have each other to help guide us when we are lost or help carry us when we are weak.

We have memories from the past that make us laugh and cry. It is for those moments that I am thankful. This year I will not be able to come home for Christmas and yes, it will be very hard!

I never thought I’d miss walking into Grandma and Papa’s house on Christmas Eve. So much commotion, nerves getting tested, the smell of meat pies (even if I didn’t eat them, it was the smell in the air I will miss), the joy of taking over the games for the young kids now so they can experience the fun old kids had when Santa visited down the basement. I think we take for granted what we have at times. I hope I never will.

This year I will miss the joy on Mom’s face while trying to get a picture of the five of us gathered around the “Griswald’s Christmas tree”. And even though we complained, I’ll miss Mom making us wait at the top of the stairs until the video camera was on and we checked our stockings one by one, youngest to oldest.

I’ll miss Dad opening his presents, because we could give him the world’s worst gift and he always made us feel as though we gave him the world.

I’ll also miss the day’s when we would sit around Grandma Mim’s table, and they would sing “White Christmas” and “Little Drummer Boy”.

I’ll miss counting how many duplicate gifts Carolyn receives. I’ll miss Tony and Jake making us laugh the way they do. I’ll miss everyone singing happy birthday to Lisa as we bring out her cake. I’ll even miss the dogs, running around like the “Bumpas’ hounds”.

As we get older, welcome others into the family and start our own traditions, let us all take a moment and reflect on what we have and the true meaning of Christmas. Let us be thankful for our family and friends. Let us once again put any differences aside and enjoy our time in having one another.

I’ll miss you all, but will see you soon!!!

Merry Christmas,

Mandi

I stand corrected. Once again I learned what is important through the eyes of my children, one of the best gifts I’ve ever received.