A Merry Christmas and a Grateful Heart

Christmas arrived quietly this year. There was absolutely no rush or loud expectations, no checklist of things to prove or perform for me. All I had was the morning light resting gently on the walls, the air feeling softer obviously the day itself asking me to breathe. There is something sacred about a day like this that doesn’t demand productivity, explanations, or strength. Christmas, a day that simply allows you to exist.

Today just feels like a pause. It’s more of an intentional stillness between everything that has happened and everything that is still unfolding. It’s the kind of day that reminds me how much of life is made up of small mercies we often overlook. All the warm meals, familiar voices, shared laughter, quiet corners and even silence and the soft music that feels safe. These things may seem ordinary, like every other day, but they are not small, they are the soft glue holding us together.

Christmas, I’m learning, doesn’t always look the same for everyone. There’s someone I know that acts like the grinch each time it’s Christmas. He says it is full of noise. For others, like me, it carries memories and longing, sometimes absence. Some people are celebrating joyfully, others are actually grieving, and some are simply surviving the day the best way they know how. Thing is all of it is valid. There is room for every kind of Christmas.

That said, as the year winds down, I find myself thinking about all the ways I have grown, imperfectly, stubbornly. About the things that didn’t go as planned and the ones that somehow did. About the lessons that came disguised as delays, disappointments, or long nights. And still, here I am. Still hoping and learning and choosing softness in a world that often hardens us.

If this season teaches me anything, it’s that love doesn’t have to be shouty to be real, being kind doesn’t need applause, simply showing up, breathing, and choosing grace, especially on difficult days is something absolutely worth celebrating.

So wherever you are, whatever this day means to you, I hope you find a moment of peace. I hope something today reminds you that you matter, that you are held, and that better days are always possible.

Merry Christmas 🤍

May your heart be light, your spirit calm, and your days ahead gentle.

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