In Which Christmas Makes Me Overly Sappy Again

The lights are up in our neighborhood, presents are piled up high under our tree, and frost laces its way across our windows in the morning.  It's almost Christmas.

As I cozy up next to Jeremy on the couch, I'm reminded of all the things I have to be grateful for this season.  It's been over four years since I almost lost him in Afghanistan, and it's moments like these, when I'm sitting in our house, watching the cats dozing by the fire and the children reading a book together, that I feel most intensely just how incredibly blessed I am to have my family here.

This is a family built of almost wasn'ts-- a son who almost died, a daughter we almost never met, a husband saved by a vehicle that was armored just enough.  And while this place we are now is never somewhere we would have thought to go, I'm so glad we're here.

It's funny how all of those "almost wasn'ts" have made me, I think, into a stronger, better person, because I've had he chance to learn lessons in courage, in perseverance, and in living a happy life despite hardship from the best people I could think to learn from: my family.  How could my life be unhappy when I'm surrounded by examples of what living a life to its fullest potential should be about?

So I'm glad it's almost Christmas, even though I procrastinate and have to stay up way too late wrapping presents on Christmas Eve, I miss my siblings and all my other relatives who live far away, the kids get really bored and drive me nuts over Winter Break, and Jer has to leave again soon.  I can't imagine a better place to spend it this and every year, than right here, once again, against the odds.

Who could ask for more?

~Jess