Family

Christmas Eve = Family and Friends

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The majority of my childhood memories revolve around my family. I am very fortunate that our family ties with our Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and Grandparents were and still are very strong. I am also so very fortunate to have close family friends in my life. People who I viewed as extended Aunts and Uncles when I was growing up. Little friends of mine when I was a child who I felt as close to as I did with my own cousins. Families that we vacationed with. Families that we went to church with. Families that we did most everything with.

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Christmas Eve 2010. Today was a memorable day in many different ways. But what has made it truly remarkable was the reunion that took place in our living room with very very special people. Special people who were our closest family friends while I was growing up. Each and every one of them....I love so much. In a way, they feel like brothers and sisters to my sister and I.

Years have gone by and everyone has scattered. At some points in life, too much time had gone by without spending time with this very special family. But what I realize is that when you have a cherished friendship with another family, it doesn't matter how much time goes by. As soon as everyone is reunited again in the same room, everything just falls back into place again. The excitement is there. The connection has instantly grown stronger because it is then that you realize how much you have missed these people over the years. You can look in their faces and see the thousands of memories that you have had with them throughout your childhood. The love is there. The sense of family is there.

Today is one of those days that will always be one of my most memorable. Because I love this family and even though life has taken all of us in different directions, we are still and always will be.....family. Powerful. Today was powerful. And each of the four kids in this family, who are now all grown and married/engaged, have the most incredible spouses. And I love and appreciate each of them too. And now we are all having our own children at the same time. It is my hope that we will all come together more frequently. Take a weekend vacation together sometime. Rebuild the memories from our youth. The next generation is upon us. It would be amazing to build a similar foundation as strong as it was so many years ago.

Tonight we played a silly Christmas game. Imagine twenty of us sitting around in the living room receiving a card that my daughter was passing out one by one. A 'conversation' game. She found the game in a drawer and my Mom told her to go ahead and pass them out to everyone. Each card had a 'Christmas Themed' question. Example: What does Christmas mean to you?, etc. I was holding our little video camera in my hand so I decided to film the entire game. About thirty minutes of straight footage but like I said, today was a blessing and I wanted to record our special time together.

So everyone went around the room and read their question. We had laughs, a few deep moments, some jokes and giggles. We insisted that one of our friend's husband read his question/ response in his 'alter ego' and it was one of the funniest things that we have ever seen. My husband's card asked about a proud moment that he had felt this year and his answer was so sweet and so sincere, it completely caught me off guard. And the video was rolling so I captured his sweet words on tape. He talked about the moment that he heard Joe (from Blipfoto) announce me as the 3rd place winner in the photo competition. That moment of watching the live feed from Europe and hearing my name announced. To tell you the truth, I was speechless and could feel myself blushing a bit. I could hear the emotion in his voice and it was a truly beautiful moment. Everyone continued sharing their answers and each and every answer had so much love in it. Then we got to another family friend and his question was: "What has been your favorite Christmas moment?" and he answered, "This. This right here. Being here today". Of course we all laughed because it was the perfect response to give at the time but there was so much meaning in those words. There was so much meaning in each and every one of our voices as we agreed with him. And then tonight I got this little message:

It was SO FUN hanging out with your family!!! I think we should make it a Christmas Eve tradition =) I'm working on a blog post and realized I have no pics of our family gathering...wondering if you could email me a few of your faves and it doesnt have to have me in it either =) Hope you guys had a great Christmas...love you!!

B

Memorable and powerful. Friends who will be family for life. No matter what direction life continues to take us in! Thank you God for making today a reality. It was long overdue but in my mind, truly a miracle.