As we all sat around the table, enjoying an early Christmas dinner, enjoying each others company and some cups of good cheer, I was thinking about the first time I came to this house for Christmas dinner. Jon and I were a shiny new couple and although I had been there for dinner once before, Christmas dinner just felt like a bigger deal. I remember being so nervous. So nervous that I can't even really remember who was all there. I remember playing the present game and one to the left and two to the right and watching Zach, who was maybe four years old, try not to cry when he lost his quarters. I remember feeling welcomed and loved and cozy. I received perfume as a gift as we headed out the door early to get back to whatever twenty year olds do on Christmas.
And this year, as I watched my girls roll the dice and quietly hope that no one would steal their presents, I thought of the many people that I've met around that table over the past 19 years. The early Christmases before kids and the Christmases at the hotel. And how it doesn't matter who you have with you, there's always room for one more at the table.
I sat down next to the wood burning fireplace, looked out at the early snow and then over at the corner of the room where the piano that is now in our living room used to sit. I smiled as I thought of the years we sang carols around that piano after a few too many cups of good cheer. I suppose with the rumors that this may be our last Christmas around this table I was feeling a little nostalgic.
No matter when or where Christmas is celebrated, memories will be made and love will be felt. This early Christmas is the perfect kick start to all the good things to come.
Merry Early Christmas and safe travels to our snowbirds.
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