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Dear Reader,
I'm wrapping presents and enjoying time with family, so today I am sharing one of my favorite holiday columns.
"What's your favorite Christmas memory?" When Debbie, a book club reader asked, I had to sit a spell and think about my answer.
The same thing happens when someone asks me to name my favorite book. Even after thinking about it for awhile, I almost always end up giving them the title of whatever book I happen to be reading. Because I don't bother finishing books that I don't like, so I'm always reading a "favorite."
My favorite Christmas memory? I guess I'd have to say that it was four years ago because my grandson was born on December 22nd. I think it will probably will be one of my favorites for a while, because it was such an insane time.
No way, no how, did it resemble an old fashioned Christmas. It was chaotic, indeed. Actually chaotic is much too gentle of a word, it was bedlam and turmoil all the way. But in the end, the chaos is what I want to remember. It reminds me that even on holidays, even on special occasions, life goes on as it always does and usually it's not all wrapped up in a neat and pretty package.
Things didn't go like I planned, people didn't behave like I'd expected, a baby came six weeks early, a cat got injured and had to have emergency surgery on the same day my grandson was born. My oven went on the blink--it was hit-or-miss if dinner would even get cooked. And when I finally served dinner, half of it was served to people sitting around my dining room table, and three other plates were packed in Grandma Hale's picnic basket so I could take Christmas dinner to my daughter-in-law, her grandmother and my son, who were at the hospital with the new baby.
It was a one of a kind Christmas filled with the true spirit of the holiday season. It took a lot of love, patience, forgiveness and laughter to get through that Christmas and it's a reminder for me that it takes a lot of love, patience, forgiveness and laughter to get through life, too.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.MuffinsandMayhem.com
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