My wish for you this holiday season is a Christmas moment, like…..

·        On a long, hot summer day at sundown when the sun sinks in the west and that first cool breeze comes snaking through the trees like wisps of smoke…

·        Like when a child who has been tearing around like a tornado inexplicably becomes very quiet, lays their head against you, and says “I Love You”…

·        Like at the tail end of a long and trying day, week, or even month when you have been battle-tested and when looking back over what was accomplished, you can smile and say silently to yourself “Well Done”…

·        Like when you watch a sentimental Hallmark movie with the ever-expected happy ending and even though you know it’s corny as all get out, your eyes well up, confirming that you do, in fact, still have a heart and retain the ability to feel something real…

·        Perhaps you realize while sharing a meal, or a drink, or just a quiet moment with friends or family how very lucky you are to have these people in your life.  And if you can’t be with someone, your memories of them bring them there with you, if just for a brief time…

·        Or that day in the Kentucky fall when you see the ripened crops of the west, or the rolling hills of the north, or the beautiful mountains of the east and you realize how lucky you are to be living here…

·        Or you see someone in the world who is just trying to get by, just looking for a warm place or a bite to eat, and you are here with a job and a paycheck…

·        You might be putting hay out for the cattle, or just walking to the car in a parking lot, or maybe just stop on the parkway beyond the city lights, and you gaze on the heavens and the stars are scattered like diamonds on black velvet and they go on forever and forever, and you feel so very small…

·        Somewhere in your day you see someone do something out of the ordinary…open a door, pick up a paper, help with a coat, hold a package for a moment, give up their place in line, open a car door, put a dollar or two in the bucket or plate, speak kindly to a stranger, yield in traffic, and you realize there is some good left in most people and they have not forgotten how to use it…

·        Or you have survived a sufficient number of years in the business so that they put you out to pasture and you have time to enjoy some of the things you passed by earlier in your life and… you have time to write stuff like this…

And most of all….on Christmas Eve, when all the hustle and bustle has ceased, the house is quiet and dark, all those Christmas smells like evergreen, cookies, and wrapping paper are still in the air, and everyone but you is settled in for the big day to come…you reflect on things and realize how very blessed you are to have this life, your loves, your things, and….moments like these. 

A very sincere Merry Christmas to you and yours.