The Love of Christmas vs. Blood Clots, Finals, and Car Problems

Some weeks, everything seems to happen.
Except the potential alien invasion that never seems to happen.
But this week, everything else seemed to happen.
Everything plus Christmas-ness that is.

Like taking three finals in twenty-four hours as the finale to my semester.


And like getting a blood clot in my leg as a delayed side effect from previous vein procedures (which had gone unnoticed through finals week until after my last test when I noticed a hard, painful, red lump on my calf).

 And like car transmission problems the day before we planned on driving home (fewer situations make me feel more insecure and ignorant than car shops).
 
And like getting stuck in traffic for an hour on the way home after our car was miraculously repaired (I still don’t understand the science of traffic jams).


Getting through all of those things was a Christmas miracle. But I didn’t really want to focus my blog on those things (even though the worst experiences always make the best stories) because this week is……Christmas!
In case you somehow forgot.

And so why should I pass up the opportunity to share why I love Christmas so darn much?
So in case you didn’t know, here’s why: 
    • The lights. There are few things more magical than glowing white or colored lights on dark nights.
    • The decorations. There are few things more beautiful than nativity scenes, ornaments, decorated pine trees, garland, tinsel, and nutcrackers.
    • The music. There are few things better than 300 different renditions of your favorite Christmas carols.
    • The movies. There are few things better than Elf, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Santa Paws (okay just kidding about that last one—stick with the classics)
    • The food. There are few things tastier than chocolate and peppermint together.
    • The cheer. There are few things more precious than pure charity, human goodness, and simple service.
    • The stories. There are few things better than being touched and inspired by examples of Christ-like kindness, even if they happen to be fictional characters.
    • The presents and the presence. There are few things better than giving gifts and cards and Christmas stickers to those I love and appreciating their presence.
    • The traditions. There are few things happier than the comfort, security, and joyful memories associated with my 22 years of Christmas traditions.
    • The living Christ. There are no things better than the hope, peace, light, and power of redemption that Jesus Christ brought into the world. I am so thankful for the gift of His perfect life and for His ultimate sacrifice that makes salvation possible. Although I try to make Christ the center of my life all the time, I love this month to focus even more on how to do that and have more opportunities to feel and share His love.



    So that’s why Christmas is great.
    And by great, I mean the most wonderful time of the year.

    And I’ll definitely remember this Christmas as the one where I almost didn’t make it home after surviving a series of grueling tests and a blood clot but Christmas miracles once again saved the day. I look forward to next year’s adventures.

    Merry Christmas dear world.

    And Christmas on.

    Comments

    Post a Comment

    Popular posts from this blog

    Things I like about Indiana

    So actually my brother Taylor started this list. But I liked it and decided to write it on my blog so that the whole world can have a taste of Hoosier Terre Haute and my family here. Some are about Indiana, but most are about the Woodward side of my family. My grandparents just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary so a bunch of my aunts and uncles and cousins and cousin-in-laws were here. The way my grandpa always tells too many details and it bugs the daylights out of my grandma. Today she told me that he skipped the days of school where they taught kids how to write short sentences. The way that my grandpa always walks hunched over. Kinda like my brothers. They'll be lucky if they turn out like him though:) The way my aunt April says "hey listen to this" when she wants people to hear a funny story. It's like a loud speaker announcing an anecdote. The way that you can escape the billions of people at family gatherings when you need some alone time. How y
    Read more

    How to feed your child and get repeatedly ill while doing it

    Image
    When I was pregnant, I was not sold on the whole idea of breastfeeding. I mean, I knew the recommendations, but it just seemed so burdensome on one partner and not the other. Going into it, I was thinking I would try to do half breast milk and half formula because that seemed a way to make things more equal between partners.  I also knew that breastfeeding doesn’t work for everyone--your milk doesn’t come in or there isn’t enough, there are issues latching, it’s painful, other medical issues come into play, there aren’t enough maternal support structures after baby comes along (short maternity leaves), the mere mental and physical toll of being on call 24/7 (though pumping can help alleviate some of these problems), to name a few. Anyways, everything I thought I wanted went out the window when Teddy was born. I had no idea how badly I wanted to breastfeed this tiny little newborn until he had problems latching and I physically couldn’t. I pumped every three hours for the first two week
    Read more

    The ninth month, birth, and postpartum

    Image
    I was feeling pretty good at 7 months pregnant. Which was the last time I posted on this blog. I had no idea how hard that final 1.5 months of pregnancy would be. About halfway through September, I finished an easy 5 mile run only to find myself crumpled on the ground afterwards, immobilized by intense pelvic pain. I cried and unable to stand, army crawled to our bedroom, where the pain subsided after about 45 minutes. This incident marked the beginning of the end of running while pregnant. I tried a few more short runs, but I could feel that same pain coming back and decided it was not in the cards to run all the way until my labor day. I had logically known I probably wouldn’t run my entire pregnancy, but emotionally it was a hard blow for me to stop with still weeks to go. Thus began the most difficult part of pregnancy for me. I know running is just one thing that I do , but stopping running after running pretty much every day for the past 15 years felt like losing a big part of wh
    Read more