Christmas memories - The 12 photos of Christmas Past.

Sarah, Lianne, and Leanne, Christmas 2018

When you are young, Christmas is about time off school and presents.  As you get older, it becomes more and more about the important people in your life.  Getting together with loved ones.  Then life changes.  People move, pass on, or are no longer close.  What you are left with are memories.

Yet those memories should be an inspiration for revisitation.  Talk to those you miss, who you may have lost contact with, to family members you don't seem to chat with any more.  Get together with friends, family, and neighbours.  Christmas should be more about the present than the past (not presents, you know, the tense - no, not tents, like getting a tent for a present - the present, like the here and now).

I love the photo above because it reminds me of when my children were at home and the associations we had with their friends.  We were also friends with their parents and it was always a time of thanksgiving and fun.  We have moved, they have moved, and all four of Kathryn's and my parents have passed on.  I want to honour those memories by doing 12 posts between now and Christmas.  

In a way, it kind of makes me sad, because those times are gone, but it also gives me hope, because the future is there for the making.  We will be seeing our grandchildren this Christmas, playing games and visiting friends and family.  It seems that Christmas is what you make it.  It is about the present - you know the kind I mean.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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