Christmas, and learning to appreciate it

This Christmas, as every year, I've been busy playing the organ at my local church. I came home a week before Christmas this year, and a lot of that week was spent practicing organ or rehearsing with the choir - then I played for four services in a row, finishing by lunchtime on Christmas day. Because lots of people in our household are involved in music making over Christmas, food preparation is often completely overlooked, but we have a lovely lady who makes delicious Tamil food for us every year, more than enough for lunch and dinner. On Christmas Eve we put up the Christmas tree, and then there's sherry and mince pies, and on Christmas day, there's presents. Perhaps because of the regularity of Christmas, or because I'm usually pretty busy, I never really took the time to appreciate not the overarching significance of the Christmas season, but rather the more mundane things, in particular spending time with my family.

Usually, as a family we're all pretty much glued to electronics - mostly computer screens. It's very rare in fact for us to take time out and actually all do something together, but Christmas is one of those times where a no-screen rule is pretty much enforced and we eat lunch and dinner and play games together. I am continually thankful for times such as Christmas that force me out of my normal preoccupation and make me appreciate things which I often take for granted. It's going to be one of my New Year's resolutions to try and achieve those "life interrupts" more, because I always find appreciating my family, friends and other supports in my life to be such a meaningful, rewarding experience.

Happy Christmas and a joyful New Year 2014. :)

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