Happy Christmas Eve ~ by Darlene Kuncytes #originalitybydesign

photo: Pixababy

Happy Christmas Eve everyone! And happy holidays!

For my blog post this month, I decided to write a bit about traditions. About, celebrating the holidays and how we need to hold on to the feeling this season brings, and not just until the credit card bills start to flood in.

We need to remember at this time of year, and with all the craziness going on around us in the world today, what matters most.

It doesn’t really matter what holiday someone celebrates. What matters is that feeling it brings to our hearts. That feeling we sometimes lose as we grow older. That feeling that we really need to find again and hold on to for dear life. Because, when it’s all said and done, those memories are the only things that truly last.

Remember as a child, practically bursting with uncontained excitement?

Close your eyes, and remember. It was everything.

The lights, the decorations, the hustle and bustle, but in a really great way. It was that incredible feeling hanging in the air wherever you went.

It was electric. 

Photo: Pexels free

It was something I wish I could bottle and safely squirrel away on a shelf somewhere, so I could pull it out when needed. It’s a feeling I wish we could feel every day for the rest of our lives.

But…we have to grow up. We have responsibilities, and we tend to lose that particular feeling. If we're lucky, we still get excited by the amazing little things in life, but the butterflies in our tummies at the thought of what Christmas day would bring is for the unbiased wonder of youth.

Think back to the night before the celebrated holiday. You no doubt were so excited you could barely sleep. You were anticipating what the morning would bring as you nervously tried to will yourself to sleep.

This is what I’m talking about. It was amazing!

I love traditions. I love hearing what others do every year. I love creating new traditions that perhaps newer family members will carry on for generations to come. I love remembering the times we shared with those who are no longer with us.

The Christmas after we lost my father was one everyone in my family knew was going to be really hard to get happy about. We knew there would be an enormous void.

My father LOVED the holidays. Every year, even a few in sub-zero temperatures, he was outside hanging lights, and he would always come in from decorating and wistfully say that he knew no one would do it after he was gone.

That first Christmas after we lost him, and every year since - and he has been gone 17 years now, I decorate the outside of my house no matter what.

I do it for him. I do it for me. And, I do it for my neighbor across the street who tells me every year how much she enjoys sitting in her living room at night, and looking out to see my lights... That it makes her heart so happy.

Photo: pinterest

These are the little things. The little pleasures we can still achieve as grown-ups.

I wanted to keep this short. I want everyone to relax, and enjoy their evening. No matter what you do.

In closing, I want to say whether you are waiting up for Santa tonight, or you celebrate by lighting a Menorah, or whatever you do this time of year - do it with love in your heart. Do your very best to hold on to this amazing feeling for as long as you can.

The world can be a pretty scary place for us adults, but it doesn’t always have to be. Let’s do our best to accept and love each other. To do something for someone who may be alone. To keep this feeling alive all year round.

Thank you all for allowing me into your lives.

Dar