everything I wanted...

About this time of the year, the most common thing to ask is: "Was Santa/whomever good to you this year?" as an indirect way of asking if you got everything you wanted for the holiday.

I find myself amused at this question. I guess it stems from our experiences as kids. We are told if we are good, we can have almost anything and we think about things we want and imagine and then try to behave well enough to get those things. I think that carries over to adulthood. We expect things on this day after a year of working tiring jobs, paying bills, watching children, etc. Even if we know on an instinctual level that we can't expect life to be that fair, we have a "suspension of disbelief" for this one day out of the year. It's amazing and a miracle in itself that, no matter what the age, we have a part of us that still feels we should have good things.

In any case, did I get what I want? Yeah I did. I got to be with my family. I got a lot of things, too. Let me list everything in priority order starting with least important and moving to the most important:

• shampoo/body wash
• macy's gift cards
• sketch books and pens
• artbook
• pictures
• underwear (this still puts a smile on my face. calvin klein seems to fit me in all the ways i need it to)
• i got to see my brothers and sisters and mom
• talked to kendall (my mom's beau)
• talked to my grandmother and brothers in NY

It's all about the people. The items in blue have a special place in my heart because of the person they came from. This person really did more than I could have dreamed just in sending this stuff. They really didn't have to (and maybe they shouldn't have), but I am thankful for each gift they sent and I plan to use them well.

Ultimately, like I said in my last entry, Christmas is about love and those you love. That gift doesn't require a suspension of disbelief at all. I am thankful -- and very much so -- for that gift of having them to see, talk to, hold, and connect with in the varying ways that we do.