In my mind, I want you to be free
For all of our friends
To listen to me
Now hear what I say
We wish you a Merry Christmas
To each one of you
-The Temptations
Now you know... you already know I really just wanted the Lyric to say "In my mind" and stop. But for anyone who just may not get it as quickly I had to add a few more lines to make it crystal clear. This is by all means my favorite Christmas song of all time. When I hear that beat and those first three words I immediately turn the volume up as high as I can stand and I belt out, "Woo ooo ooo oooooo" with all the the energy I have. I smile and I instantly feel joy. It's not Christmas time until I hear this song. Last year was so weird. With the pandemic and we had so many firsts and things we had to re-learn. We had to re-learn how to pump gas, re-learn how to grocery shop. Heck, we had to re-learn how to be together. This made the holidays different. There was this lingering fear that our family gatherings could be a Covid spreader event. We so wanted to get together and love on each other, but there was a risk.
And to top it off, even though we had been in this for 9 months at this point, there was still no end in sight. Man, it was frustrating. This not knowing and having to figure it out as we went along caused a delayed response in excitement for what is usually the most wonderful time of the year for me. Aside from that, I listen mostly to gospel and I almost didn't get my dose of holiday cheer with my jam. It was right around December 20th last year, I had done all of the shopping and shipping and I was pleased. I turned on Temptations Christmas and it got real for me. There was no snow, there were not as many lights as usual, but it was only then that it started to feel like Christmas. As I am known to do, I spent way more than I budgeted for but I wanted my family to know that I was thinking about them. I wanted them to smile and have just one more thing to be grateful for. I wanted them to feel Christmas from me. I was so grateful, even though nothing went as planned last year I was grateful to be alive and still have my family with me. This year is no different.
I'm rocking along singing out and I am filled with cheer. In a recent conversation with some of my Chosen Chicks I realized that I have had numerous family members that caught the Corona virus, but not one was taken out by it. We are fighters- in the physical as well as the spiritual. We could have easily been statistics. We battled jail, hell and death and we're still standing string to tell the story. So even though we're still navigating this new normal, even though we're still wearing masks and social distancing, even though we are not as free as we want to be, we are still calm and bright. We are still looking forward to a very Merry Christmas and and peaceful, fruitful, and prosperous new year.
The sounds, the harmony, the finger snaps, the memories are all here. Right now the joy of the season is here. And I wouldn't be who I am if I didn't remind us about the true reason for this and every season- The Savior Jesus. No we don't know the exact day of His birth and no He doesn't care about material gifts. But because He is love He delights in us showing love to one another. My gift to each one of you is a prayer that you will hold your loved ones close. I hope that you will put your differences aside and celebrate life. I also want each of you to grab the opportunity of life everlasting by getting to know Jesus for yourself. Christmas is about the birth of our Savior. He was born to die for our sins. He paid the ransom for all of our shortcomings so that we wouldn't have to suffer eternal damnation, but we could live full and free here on here and spend eternity with Him when all is said and done here. God was so merciful and kind as to give us this free gift, His son. Receive that today. Receive freedom, new life, and all of God's goodness. Merry Christmas.
atb
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