Home for the Holidays

The holidays mean something different for everyone. Each person, family and culture hold their own traditions for celebrating. But we all celebrate. We all gather. We collect our families, the people we choose, the ones we were given, and we hunker down. It’s my favorite way to celebrate.

As chaotic as holidays can be, there is always some good quality time that comes with it. This is a time for us to connect with our families and our homes. What and where our homes are, is often more fluid than what we thought it would be. Being home for the holidays means something different for everyone. The best version of “home” for some may be a holiday trip with those you love the most. Or it could just mean holding up in your house. Whoever and whatever you connect with, that’s where you find yourself home.

The holidays are about giving too. Giving back to our family and the community.  It doesn’t matter how old I get, I will never tire of seeing the pile of presents under the tree. Not just because of which ones are mine, I’m excited to give presents to the people I love and to share this time with them. There are few things that can match the joy of giving someone a really good gift. Anyone can wrap something up and give it away, but finding something that won’t be thrown in a corner and forgotten is something special.

Our homes and our families are different for all of us, and it’s important to define that for ourselves. We can get so caught up in what our homes are meant to look like, it can be easy to forget that our homes are unique. It shouldn’t look exactly like the one on Pinterest, it should look like yours. Making your home yours and unique and comfortable all at the same time isn’t easy. And it may not come all at once. It may take longer than you would like, and that is ok. Creating a home is a life long project.

I’m always grateful that I have a comfortable space to spend time with family in.  For me that’s what a home really is. The backdrop to my life. It’s a space that I can connect with, feel at ease in and my home provides comfort for me and my loved ones.