Reasons to love winter
Dec
22
Probably everyone knows the one main reason that I love winter so much...skiing! For me, there is nothing else like it. It's the perfect combination of a great workout and the most exhilarating thrill you can find next to actually flying. I love it. It's the reason that I'm spending my holiday season here in Italy. Lucky for me, I had the opportunity a few weekends ago to try out the mountains here for the first time with some good friends. God smiled on me and gave us the most beautiful weather we could have asked for. Relatively warm, super sunny, and lots of fresh snow. I know this is not likely to happen again for the rest of the time I am here, but I still can't wait to go back. In less than a week, we'll be back in the mountains again for the holiday season.
Reason #2...productions, pageants, and festivities. I love the holiday spirit and joy in the air. Last weekend I was at home with the 3 munchkins for the entire weekend as their parents ran off to Holland (I know...lucky me). So on Saturday night, I was in need of getting out of the house and promised them we could go to the cinema to see Rapunzel. Bad idea to ever promise children something that's not set in stone. They have never been to the cinema before (and didn't even know their town had one) so they were quite excited. Sure enough, after the adventure of getting everyone dressed up, in the car, and spending 30 min looking for parking, we get to the cinema to find out that Rapunzel wasn't playing. Nevertheless, I was saved by the Christmas festivities. I had no idea ahead of time, but Saturday night there was a town-wide living Nativity production. We were there too early in the afternoon to actually see the production; however, we did at least have a lovely stroll through town seeing everyone dressed up in clothing from biblical times, buildings and scenes creating Jerusalem, live animals of all sorts, and people endlessly offering 'my kids' every sweet, candy, hot chocolate, and focaccia imaginable. All in all...good times with the exception of Claudio's little hands almost freezing off and me feeling like a really terrible mom for getting him out in the cold.
Christmas is, of course, the biggest event of the winter season and should be celebrated in all of it's glory. I know it's become almost cliche to say, but I really do hope to remember the reason I celebrate and to serve as a reminder to others. I often joke here with the Italians because there are so many religious holidays and no one ever seems to know what they are actually celebrating. Literally, I ask everyone, and no one can tell me. At least with Christmas we all know, but let's really celebrate what a wonderful gift we were given on this day two thousand years ago. My current environment is drenched with nativity scenes and reminders of Baby Gesù, and yet it's so easy to completely overlook.
1 comments:
You and your skiing! It sounds like you're really enjoying the Christmas season. Personally, I'm struggling to feel any of the "usual" Christmas spirit down here in New Zealand. I went kayaking and rode my bike to the ocean and enjoyed the warm summer sun today. Not exactly what I'm used to at Christmas.
But much to my surprise, not having all the usual Christmas routines has given me a new perspective on what Christmas is all about. I've been really listening to the words in the "Ring the Bells" Christmas album from FBC. It's given me a whole new appreciation for Jesus, what he's done, and what he's going to do for us!
Cheers,
Kevin
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