I believe...

I decided to take a break from general internet hassle during the holidays, however this is my Christmas Eve Post, a tradition of sorts :)

Our Christmas celebration promises to be a quiet one, dedicated to family. No, we are not tired, it is just that sort of common accord we decided that we just want to be together, appreciating the incredible gift that life grants when you are given someone to lean on. In our list of Christmas gratitude, there is first and foremost our humble thanks for the gift of life, which granted us two marvelous occasions this year to feel there is Someone beyond our selves that takes care and listens: the safe arrival of Lysanel and Mom's recuperating with flying colors of her heart attack.

Out my window the world looks gray, but not dead at all. It is the gray of nights that come a little earlier, as it usually happens in winter. The breeze is swift, but not cold. It is the favorable breeze that reminds us all it is Christmas.

I am lucky enough to look out and see early rising stars. I love living in Wesley Chapel because you can still see a bit of open country... I had a flash back courtesy of an early star. I am 12 years old on my way from Grandma's house to our own in Christmas Eve. I looked at the sky and saw, as if for the first time countless stars, you know the ones you see on an open field a little after midnight. In my mind, still untarnished by adult trials and worries, I swear I heard and saw the universe before me as I have never perceived it: a place of wonder and magic in which music and color collide to create a harmony among many spheres.

It is customary to close your eyes when making a wish, but me being me, I opened them widely, to absorb ever glitter, every tone from velvet black to deep purple, the cold and the heat of astral bodies and the spaces between, and I said to myself: I believe.

Ever since I've always stepped out at midnight on Christmas Eve, to a place where I can see the stars enough to reach them... and if this post seems inconclusive, it is meant to be, because each of us carry within our selves the perfect recipe for a Christmas Wish and I will dare not to suggest one for you... Mine, however, has a bit of welcomed chilly breeze, a sprinkle of stars, the taste sherry, the warmth of loved ones and if any uncertainty crosses my path I shake it away with a bit of hope.

Merry Christmas.