Pre- Christmas Musings

Christmas is next week! How did it get here so fast?? It's like this every year. A lot of pre-season hype and then it's gone!

I admit this past week I've been feeling a little sorry for myself. sorry that I'm up in a remote town in the French Alps and haven't really felt the "Christmas spirit" that you almost have to feel when living in the States.. (We Americans do everything bigger than everyone else :) Although growing up my family chose to celebrate Hanukkah instead of Christmas, my mom would still put up the nativity set and decorations early in the month and then become the mom who was always baking delicious winter surprises for us to eat.
(how much fudge can you sneak out of the fridge before mom notices it's gone?? ;)

Oh, and then there was our Secret Santa gift swap with the cousins (which would almost always become an all-out fight to get the best presents) and our traditional Christmas Eve- Miracle on 34th Street, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, White Christmas & It's a Wonderful Life movie marathon. (It's tradition!)
Granted last year I was still not home but rather in Sydney celebrating Christmas IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SUMMER (hey, at least we managed to crank the air conditioning in the flat so it felt more like winter), I still get a bit nostalgic for the Christmases Long Past.. Then yesterday afternoon, I looked out my window and gave myself a much needed reality check/kick in the pants! I'm living in an amazingly beautiful ski resort in the French Alps!! I'm with John and have met some really great friends! I'm learning to ski and speak french (harder than you'd think) and THIS IS THE VIEW FROM MY WINDOW!


































It's so typical. Rather than focusing on what I so fortunately have at my fingertips, I instead start whinging about what I feel I'm missing out on. It's like having straight hair and wishing you had curls, or curly hair wishing you had straight. (I fall into the former category! Always wanted curls!) Are we ever satisfied? So what if I can't be "home" for the holidays; home is wherever I make it! I think this self-reflection before Christmas is a good thing. It has reset my priorities and made me once again realise how much I have to be thankful for. And that to me should be what Christmas is all about! Being thankful for our lives, families, circumstances and friends.. rather than focusing on what we think we're missing :)

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