My points of reference...

 

You know how much I love Christmas.  It's no secret.  But, I mean, why?  Why do I love Christmas?  Why does Christmas have such a spell-binding effect on our whole world? I've been putting some thought into it lately, and this is what I've come up with...

We like Christmas unchanged.  We like the same old decorations, cookies, carols, etc.  That's because Christmas is a still spot in an ever-turning world.  A place of refuge.  Like when a dancer is spinning and they pick one spot to focus on. It's that one point of reference to get their bearings when everything else in the world is moving too fast.

Christmas is like an old friendship.  Old friendships are time-tested and comfortable.  They are the points of reference that we need when our world is moving too fast.

Allison and Maribel are two of my oldest friends (not that we're old ladies...that will never happen).  I have seen so much life with these women. Allison met me when I was 13 and Maribel met me right after I turned 18.

We have seen each other thin and heavy.  Pregnant and not pregnant.  Short hair, long hair.  Every fashion trend in the past 25+ years.  We have celebrated the purchases of homes, births of babies, and marriages.  And we have held each other up through trauma, death, and pain.

They have driven for hours through the snow so that I wouldn't have to see my ex-husband arraigned in court for hurting my daughter all by myself.  They have babysat.  They have taken my children for whole summers and have acted as a second mother.  They have tolerated me when I am cranky and laughed until our stomachs hurt and we pee our pants.

They are my people and I love them.   They are my places of refuge.  They are my Christmas.

xoxo v.