Holidays: A wealth of writing goodness

Each year brings a whole new level of participation and understanding of the season for Abby. It's pretty exciting to watch it all unfold. Last year I think she hung up one, maybe two ornaments; whereas this year she couldn't get enough. Granted there's a section towards the bottom of our tree that is clustered with ornaments, but it's quite possibly the most perfect, beautiful way our tree could be decorated. 

Last night also brought us the first Sunday in Advent, which I love. I have such wonderful memories from my childhood of participating in this celebration with my family. I question how well I teach Abby about Jesus and God, but she's three, so I'm thinking I need to cut myself a little slack. To listen to her say prayers and to hear her say things like, "God my friend mom," or "I love God," tells me I'm doing something right...Even if that doesn't mean she totally "gets it," its something and it's a decent foundation to work from. Last night was yet another example of how much can change in a year. Last year she pretty much just listened and gleefully blew out the candles at the end, but last night...Last night, she worked really hard to sing the songs with me, and when I read prayers, she chose to repeat each line with me. It was awesome!

I love this time of year. I'm particularly thankful this year, as I'm seeing a wealth of opportunities in my writing. I'm still trying to find that magical place of drawing more readers to my Examiner.com column, but I'm pleased with the way I've progressed, and having such a broad topic as all-things-holiday - as it applies to early childhood and parenting - to work with during this season...Outstanding. 

As I type this, I'm gazing upon my tree and all of our traditional Christmas decorations and I find myself wishing they could stay up all year round. On the heels of that, however, is the realization that if our tree were up all the time, it would lose some of its beauty and wonder - it would become just another fixture in our home. But for now - sigh - perfection!

Here's hoping you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope you'll pop by the ol' Examiner.com page from time to time this month and keep up with all the holiday-themed writings.