I hope everyone had a good holiday season.
I would ask what everyone got for Christmas but that is really not all that important.
What is important is how many family members and friends you had the opportunity to spend time with.
As I have mentioned before, the holiday season is a time for spending time with the people who matter most in your lives and in some cases we do not realize how important these people are until our time spent with them is either gone or at least limited.
A lot of times people are not able to spend that time, for a variety of different reasons, which may include, time, money, or health and so when we do get those opportunities we need to make the most of it.
I can admit that although family and friends have always played a large part of my life I may also be guilty of not fully appreciating the time I did spend with them.
I moved to Humboldt last December so I made the decision to not go home for Christmas because I had just moved.
This year was different as I had the opportunity to go home and spend time with family and friends during a holiday for the first time since Thanksgiving in 2015, which gave me a whole new appreciation for how important that time is and although we did not do a whole lot I can say it was probably one of the best Christmas’ I have ever had just because I got that time.
And although it was longer between seeing them during a holiday than I would have liked I also realize that a lot of people go much longer without seeing their loved ones than I did and that is why we need to appreciate it more.
The old adage says that absence makes the heart grow fonder and while that is true why does it need to be?
Why can we not be fond of those we love without having to be apart first?
Too often in life you hear people who say things like “I wish I had spent more time with them before they passed away” or “I wish I got to know them better.”
Why wait until you are left wishing?
Take the time whenever you can get it but especially around the holiday season because you never know when you will not have that opportunity anymore.
So when some says “I hope you had a good holiday season” or “how was your holiday season,” do not think about how the dinner was or what kind of presents you got. Think about the time you got to spend with family and friends.
And if you think you had a bad holiday season because you did not make or get the time to spend with your loved ones, make a conscious effort to have a different answer in the future.
So I hope you had a good holiday season.
And I hope you got to spend as much time as possible with loved ones.
That is the most important part.
