{"id":5865,"date":"2020-12-25T23:47:38","date_gmt":"2020-12-26T07:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=5865"},"modified":"2020-12-25T23:47:38","modified_gmt":"2020-12-26T07:47:38","slug":"i-found-you-christmas-victoria-bc-12-25-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=5865","title":{"rendered":"I Found You Christmas \u2013 Victoria, BC \u2013 [12\/25\/2020]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"And then everybody laughed again
\nAnd then I went to bed\u2026
\nLooking through my bedroom window out into the moonlight and the unending smoke covered snow
\nI could see the lights of all the other houses on our hill and hear the music rising from them up the long steadily falling night.
\nI turned the gas down. I got into bed
\nI said some words to the close and holy darkness\u2026And then I slept.<\/em><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t a \u201cnormal\u201d Christmas\u2026in some ways. Nothing about this year has been \u201cnormal\u201d, in some ways, the day felt a little unusual and a little strained around the edges at times \u2013 as though the knowledge of what was happening in the outside world was trying to get in through the cracks\u2026but that\u2019s to be expected. \u00a0In some ways\u2026I\u2019ll admit it felt like any other weekend.<\/p>\n

And yet\u2026<\/p>\n

Despite that. Despite everything<\/em>, that has been happening to everyone, not just to my little family but to everyone\u2026today was one of the happiest Christmases I\u2019ve had\u2026for a very long time.<\/p>\n

Freed of expectations and robbed of the pressure we put upon ourselves to be a picture perfect Christmas card, setting aside the glitter and the sparkly wrapping paper and so many other things that just aren\u2019t an option this year\u2026.I found that we were left with\u2026ourselves. And that\u2019s a good and beautiful thing. Just me, and the three people in the world that mean the most in the world to me. And small gifts from the heart instead of large ones from the pocket book, and laughter and good conversation and\u2026love. So much love. Under all the pain and the drama of this year, there is a foundation of love that continues to grow stronger despite everything moving against it.<\/p>\n

And isn\u2019t that what Christmas is supposed to be about in the first place? Isn\u2019t it really?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about the little things. The smile on my mother\u2019s face when she finally opened the present we\u2019d actually had for her for nearly half a year. The joy on Amras\u2019 face when looking at a vintage Christmas ornament. My Dad\u2019s laughter that\u2019s sometimes too rare these days. The perfect taste of log roll and the smell of a freshly laid fire.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not about the things you can wrap up.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s never been about the things you can wrap up.<\/p>\n

Walking hand in hand with Amras in the scattered rain this evening (once again my quiet hopes for a white Christmas have been dashed), with my fingers wrapped in new gloves and the streets nearly empty\u2026my heart felt lighter than it has in months.<\/p>\n

In a few days, reality will return to my little corner of the world; there will be more lawyer appointments and work days and general craziness\u2026but for today? For right now? For now\u2026everything is good again.<\/p>\n

I wish all of you, and yours, a dear and happy holiday season. A joyful Christmas and the happiest of new years. You deserve it, we all do.<\/p>\n

And remember, sometimes the \u2018Dolly in the Corner\u2019 is not a present at all. Sometimes it\u2019s the people around you \u2013 physically, spiritually or virtually, and the joy those people and those memories can bring.<\/p>\n

And with that\u2026I say my words to the close and holy darkness\u2026.and I sleep<\/p>\n

Merry Christmas everyone<\/p>\n

Bright Blessings<\/p>\n

Shaughnessy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And then everybody laughed again And then I went to bed\u2026 Looking through my bedroom window out into the moonlight and the unending smoke covered snow I could see the lights of all the other houses on our hill and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[111,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-in-the-times-of-covid","category-sadie"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-1wB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5865"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5867,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5865\/revisions\/5867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}