Wow, I can harldy believe that Christmas is only 5 short weeks away! Time to haul out the boxes and get decorating!
Yesterday I was able to leave the boys with Dee and get the rest of my shopping completed. It is such a good feeling to be finished the shopping and now I can just concentrate on the gifts that require a bit of handmade love.
I have so many thoughts of Christmas this year. To be so blessed with 2 wonderful little boys fills my heart. To have a husband that is my rock, my best friend and partner in every sense of the word makes me feel so very blessed. I'm not sure why but Christmas brings out those thoughts of appreciation for those in our lives. We should feel that way all year long, not just at Christmas.
This Christmas especially I am missing my Grandpa. I so wish that he could have met my sons. Some days I can still hear his voice, the way that when he said hello it sounded like "yellow". The way that he always cleared his throat. His comfoting arms when he pulled you in for a hug against his soft belly. The talent he had for laying down to "rest his eyes" after a meal and promptly fell sound asleep. "Grandpa cheese" (Velveta) on toast in the mornings with coffee. But most of all I miss the love that radiated from him. There was never a doubt of his feelings for his family.
So many things remind me of Grandpa, and as my dad gets older and is now a grandfather himself, he reminds me of what I saw in my Grandpa Johnson. I know that my boys have as special a Grandpa J as I did...afterall, my dad had a great role model in his dad and inherited his soft heart and comforting presense. This is something to be truly thankful for.
This Christmas, I am going to make sure that those around me know how loved and appreciated they are. Many of my gifts this year are homemade and were chosen with great thought and love for the recipients. I am going to try to get back to the true spirit of Christmas and not let it become so much about the actual gift but the thought that went into it to show our love. I challenge you all to do the same.
Wishing you a blessed and love-filled Christmas season.
XOXO
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4 comments:
Aw, I almost cried reading that.
I completely agree...I wish so much that Grandpa could have met our boys. But I know that he is watching over them, and I feel comforted by that.
Seeing Dad with the boys, to me, is like looking back on my past and seeing myself as a kid with Grandpa...there are so many similarities in the way they love. Substitute Grandpa's Velveeta and Coffee for Dr.Pepper and Mini Wheats though!
jan, I'ver been thinking about granpa alot too latley... maybe it is the time of year, memories come flowing back.
Mom and I have been talking about putting heart and thought into gifts for this year too... not so much on money and "oh my goodnbess what am I going ot get them"...
Anyway nice to see ur blogging again, will be stopping by now.
Kath
beautiful descriptions of Grandpa, Jan...You really 'nailed it' in your choices of words. Thanks for that.
Time moves on, people pass on ahead of us, but they don't really leave....because they leave a little bit of themselves in each of us that they touched.
I am so glad your dad reminds you of my dad.
I am so with you on focusing more on the love that goes in to a gift than on what you can just go out and buy. Good for you!
I so enjoy reading your thoughts...I hope you can keep this up again - and I like the lighter background, too!
Obviously, I did not proof read my last comment....too many "so's"... oops, my bad.
LOL
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