It’s the most wonderful time of the year! This year, it’s also been the most relaxing year for us.  We both had two weeks of unused vacation so we chose to just take the weeks off to be home and enjoy the peace. Busybodies like us are actually pretty damn terrible at doing nothing so we wound up finding new furniture to put in the house, will wind up rearranging two rooms and have been out everyday seeing friends, family, and just running around doing all out shenanigans. We’ve either been at restaurants, entertaining people at our house, or marathon eating at other people’s homes.  We did make sure to turn off the alarms, sleep in, and enjoy every slow morning this vacation.  Waking up in my own home, with my wonderful husband, and having so many people to love and be loved by is a wonderful blessing, and one an awful lot of people don’t have.

Last week, Mercy Care had their yearly Robert L. Mason, Jr. Candlelight Memorial for those who died while homeless. This year it was extra solemn because the homeless were being murdered while they slept this season. Thankfully, the killer has been caught.  So many people came to remember the ones that had passed and Mercy Care collected coats and handed them out to people that needed them while they spent another winter night outside.  Friends came to light a candle and remember. A choir sang songs that just.. were really uplifting despite the circumstances.

hu·man·i·ty
(h)yo͞oˈmanədē/

noun

1 . the human race; human beings collectively.

2.  humaneness; benevolence.

There was humanity in the event: the sense that we are only meaningful when we love our brothers and sisters, love our enemies and friends and that we view ourselves collectively. The need to keep that at the forefront of my holiday this year and my 2015 was refreshed in those moments. As we are called to love, I can’t forget we love because he first loved us.

We hope your Christmas is full of all the things you wished for, and know that all the donations and clothes and everything you’ve given this year really does make a difference to people.