Sunday of Joy

One more Sunday to go before Christmas - and so, today during the church service, we lit the third candle - the candle of joy. Since we've already celebrated hope and peace, next Sunday will be love... and we will have our traditional service of music - a lesson told in carols. There will be a live Nativity, as always, and this year our own little Rebecca will be portraying Mary. We went for a practice this afternoon where they fitted her with her costume and they walked through the whole thing - she was quite taken with the fella playing Joseph. Too bad he's a college boy...

So it's the Sunday of Joy and I've been feeling pretty joyful these days. There are times, as I go about my day, I realize how busy I am. Several years ago I would have been stressed beyond belief, unhappy and grumpy, feeling like the weight of the world was on my shoulders and now, today, not so much. These days I feel positively normal. It took three and a half years, a few mistakes and a return to therapy but hey, better late than never! I like this, this ease. No one shares in the inception of it... it's all me... as boring as that sounds.

Tomorrow my mom and I are shopping... finishing up those names on the list. I have my nephew and a few others, some odds and ends to take care of, and I'm actually pretty excited about it. I've balanced my checkbook - figured out how much I have hanging around and I'm ready to shop til I drop lol! Too bad I'm not shopping for me, but oh, wait, that's not very Christmasy now is it? Sorry! The rest of the week will be hectic, and I'm not looking forward to it all that much but... here's the thing... I know it will all be ok... I know that it will get done and I will manage it. Knowing that means I don't have to stress an inordinate amount over it... it's a beautiful, joyful, thing...

Merry Christmas y'all! All I Want For Christmas Is You!