I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know.

Hello everyone and Merry Christmas!

This holiday season has been an odd one. When my family went to see my Mom's parents and siblings for Thanksgiving/early Christmas, I was very sick, so I wasn't able to go. And then, because the school year was pushed forward a week, I was still in finals when my family went to visit my Dad's dad and sister. So basically, I didn't get to see any of my extended family. It really got me thinking about next year. A year from today I will be somewhere else in the United States. Maybe I'll be as close as Illinois, or maybe as far way as Washington, I really don't know. But, depending on how things go, I might not be able to come home for Christmas. Plane tickets are expensive, and I'll be just barely skimming by for the next several years. Even if I manage to get home, getting home for long enough to go visit the grandparents and the cousins? Very unlikely. I'll have a job, I'll have an apartment I'm paying for. It just won't be possible. My cousin is having a baby soon (who I've been informed will share a name with me) and I don't know when I'm going to get to meet her. Last year might have been my last year to see my whole family. At least for a long while. It is very possible this year is my last year to participate in Christmas morning with my siblings. It's all a little sad. But it does make me cherish it a little bit more. Snow came just barely in time for Christmas, the presents are under the tree, and a couple of cookies have been saved for Santa. I don't know what future years bring, but I know this one is the last of a kind and that I'm going to enjoy it. Enjoy your Christmas everyone. And squeeze your family a little bit tighter. Enjoy the things that won't be there forever, because they're worth enjoying.

Merry Christmas!


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