On Holidays

"Holidays are a time we enact age old rituals; solemn rights passed down from one generation to the next. A time for family and friends and good cheer. They're also a time for giving and receiving. A time for surprise. Some surprises are hidden in boxes, wrapped up with colorful paper and ribbons. Still, others we carry inside; concealed in our own hearts while we wait for just the right moment to reveal them."

There's something about the holiday season, isn't there? About wearing layers of coats and scarfs, the ambience of light, and seeing your breath outside. I think it brings all of us back to a place we don't often visit.

Am I making sense?

I mean, outside of this one season, I feel like I'm the same person; I'm the same boy you met in the summer as I am in the Spring, and chances are I'll be the same early fall. But once that late fall and winter starts to roll in, it's a different story. I think it's that way for everyone, though.

The winter provides a time to reflect; a time where one retreats into themselves, in the evening usually, and is left to their thoughts. I think what makes these winter thoughts so unique though, is this balance: it is the single time of year where you can think about the time you had and how you spent it, wasted it, or made the best of it, but also it is the same time where once thinks about the future and their plans, and ambitions and dreams for it.

Even if a person doesn't learn from the previous year, or follow through with any of their new resolutions, it is essential. To be able to look at the future with optimism and hope is what keeps us going; the thought of starting over, the excitement of something new, or the relief in leaving something behind.

But that's enough for now. I have some hoping and dreaming to do for myself.

God bless.