The Passage of Time

The Richard's 2012 Christmas Tree

An eight year old's Christmas wish list

It seems appropriate to start 2013 by doing something I haven't gotten around to doing for a long, long time--posting on this blog. There are a number of reasons I could list for not writing in so long--too busy, too lazy, but maybe the closest reason is that I just haven't made it a priority.

So here I am at the start of a New Year resolving to write on this blog more often. I must admit that I am already failing at one or more of my other resolutions...again I could list a variety of reasons for this, but priorities come into play once again.

I have, more by default than intentionality, not yet taken down my Christmas decorations. Maybe this is because of procrastination, busyness, the desire to live the 12 days of Christmas and take them down on Epiphany....but there are other reasons.

The passage of time is so fast--it seems to speed up each year. We race through all the crazy busyness of Christmas to find that December 25th comes and goes so quickly. I just want to hold onto it a little longer. I want to look at our pretty Christmas tree (that we trudged through rain and mud to cut down) for just a little while long. I want to stare at the kid's homemade decorations a little while longer.

My oldest child wrote out her Christmas list and put it up on the refrigerator. Again, I am having a difficult time taking it down. The list of desired items is a testament to how quickly my daughter has grown--to this place of still being the little girl who wants little pet shop toys and tea sets and the grown up girl who wants make up and an iphone. How quickly the time goes by.

And so I think I'll leave the tree, the precious ornaments, the Christmas list up for one more day to cherish them before packing them away and heading full throttle into another year. And maybe this year I will make it a priority to slow down more...to notice the beauty of living each day...to hug my girls when they are sweet and to cherish even the moments when they are not. For this is life...and may it be life well lived in 2013.