When Christmas comes and things do not go the way that you had planned. When people came and you did not feel the presence of family or even the presence of love.

Where do you go when every place feels empty and alone? This was not a feeling that I have every felt with my family so close. This year the 3rd Christmas without my mom by far the worst Christmas of my life.

Her absence was overwhelmingly evident, the confusion and the disarray, the apparent absence of siblings and life gone by.

This year did not feel like Christmas at all. I now know exactly what the Grinch felt the day his heart grew. Christmas is not about the gifts under the tree; it’s not about how much money you can spend or how many things you accumulated that day.

Christmas is about the savior that came to a broken prideful world to set them free, and somewhere in all the busyness we lost sight of the reason for this day.

We forget to pray that this day be blessed because we are blessed to be a part of this day. We are blessed to still be here with our kids and our loved ones, we forget to say thank you for gifts received because it did not live up to the expectations that we set.

We forget that times are hard for people all over and at times there are those who put themselves in deep debt to keep up with the families that can buy hundreds and thousand-dollar items for their families, while some can barely afford the dollar store.

We forget that packages and bows do not make Christmas special. We forget that we do not have to be rich or clean to impress God, we do not have to bring gifts of Gold. Frankincense or Myrrh to impress him.

We forget that our kids grow up, we forget that they will marry and begin families of their own. We forget that they soon will become the version of us that we forgot would fade away.

We forget that time has a way of stealing moments we forgot to capture on film. We forget that we will one day sit where our parents sat, think and feel the way that our parents felt.

Do not forget that Jesus came to set us free, not from burden, heartache or pain. He came to free us from the bondage that sin keeps us in. We choose to stay in the same broken behavior; we choose never to open our eyes and see the moments that are passing us by.

We can choose JOY, we can choose to live life, to savor the moments. No matter how they make us sad, or melancholy. We choose Jesus, we choose to set healthy boundaries and not participate in activities that we do not feel comfortable in.

It no longer matters what people think or say about us, our sanity is more precious than diamonds and Gold and it is perfectly ok to say the word NO! Matter of fact NO is a complete sentence. No explanation is needed or warranted.

So if you are feeling empty today, two days after Christmas, that feeling is normal. You do not have to feel that way for long. You can ask the Lord of the world to come sit with you, to talk and worship with you. To be your friend, you confidant.

You can choose to savor the moments that won’t last forever and toss away the moments that were spoken unintentionally.

Choose to LOVE everyone right where they are, realize that it isn’t all about you anymore,

Life happens, kids grow and time marches on!

Happy Birthday Jesus, Merry Christmas and happy New Year!!! From my home to yours