Here's a lovely story I just read for the first time this year. I'm glad Plough recommended that in one of their emails (I like their mailing list enough to stay on it, which certainly isn't something I can say about a lot of them).
We're a little tired this December - not bleakly, but simply. We didn't even really attempt the Advent activity bag from church. We didn't attempt Christmas cookies or any rough equivalent. Most of our decorations didn't go up until yesterday. I didn't even consider giving gifts to anyone from work.
Not all of those were traditions we normally uphold - considering how much I love all things food-related, I am surprisingly bad about baking cookies, whether by myself or with the kids, and Christmas has so far seldom been an exception - but you probably see what I mean.
2024 is shaping up to be a big year for family things - my dad's 70th birthday, A.'s 40th birthday, my brother's wedding, Pearl starting kindergarten. I hope, one way or another, this can be a bigger year for me to be with people, and for my family to get a larger, better share of my time and effort.
Merry Christmas.