On Christmas Eve my mom, dad and I go to the midnight service at my church. It is filled with Lessons and Carols proclaiming the birth of Christ.

Every year the service concludes with the hymn “Joy to the World.” As the song crescendos into its third verse the congregation, bathed in candlelight, exclaims with voices filled with Christmas “He rules the world with truth and grace…”

And every year I get chills. Welcome, Christmas.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” Amen, AMEN!

(Revelation 21:6a)

When you realize Toys’R’Us wrongly packaged a present with incompatible parts 2 days before Christmas, be prepared to cope with a madhouse in the store. You will probably be body checked and have to hunt around on the floor for the correct accessories before you can make your exchange. But, fear not, with agile moves and quick thinking you can not only achieve your objective but escape with only minor psychological trauma.

Merry Christmas!

This week I received a series of packages from my mom & dad. It was the influx of Christmas presents that I couldn’t carry on the plane with me. This Christmas, my mom found something special when she was on a vacation with friends. She and my Dad ordered three of them and had them sent to Atlanta to give to my sisters and me as presents. When we opened them, we found distressed wood that had been painted with the words “Every Day I Love You.” My mom says that we can hang these in our laundry rooms, closets or somewhere out of the way, but that she just wanted us to have a reminder. I’m a graphic designer and I love type and signage, so this is something I will be happy to hang in my living room.

The truth of the matter is that this isn’t my favorite Christmas present because it looks pretty. This is my favorite Christmas present because it means so much to me. On days when I’m homesick and missing my family or days when I don’t think I can take the Boston winter much longer, I can look at that and feel a little bit better and a little bit warmer. I am so blessed to have the family that I have and I hope that each one of them knows that every day I love them, too.

I had an amazing Christmas. Jack and I headed back to Atlanta for a week and then made the trek to Nebraska to spend New Years with his family. It was hectic and relaxing all at once and coming home to Boston last Sunday made us both extremely sad. We conquered the week with determination and both agreed last night that we needed a lazy weekend of sleeping in, watching movies and relaxing. So that’s what we’re doing.

I’ve been thinking about 2010 in retrospect for a bit, and I have to say that while it brought a lot of changes to my life and encouraged a lot of growing up… I’m not sad to see it go. I felt like the whole year was an uphill battle with figuring out what I was supposed to be doing with my life, but never actually finding the answer. It was a necessary year, but one that has served it’s purpose.

2011 on the other hand, I have a really good feeling about. I think this is the year that I’m going to get some answers. I’m going to look at myself and the things that lay ahead of me and start making the decisions that are going to help me reach my goals. I’m sure that in the months ahead, more of these decision points will be revealed to me (and in turn to you) but for now, it’s a fresh slate. There are so many directions that this year can go. There are so many directions that I can go.

So, let’s go 2011. Show me what you got. I’m ready.