What were the drummers drumming?

Rejoice - Punctuation - Reunion - Rest - Presence - Doing for Others - Music -Sport - Gifts from the heart - 

(Technically, I DID start this blog entry yesterday (24th)..and life just happens)

"On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 12 drummers drumming"
What do you suppose they were drumming about? Were they the marching band leading in the next big thing?

This is my 12th day of Christmas, and the 12 days have been joyous. It has been a good exercise for me in slowing down to really feel whats going on around me.  I am the gal that will tel you I'm really relaxed and going with the flow, but then walking that walk is another exercise all together.   Today, for my 12th day of Christmas, I want to celebrate the excitement of new beginnings.  

I think this emotion follows everything we do with the holidays.  We reunite with family and friends, we shop for a big party, we dress up, we gift exchange, we welcome tradition, we anticipate rest. We participate in so much during the holidays, and then we (sometimes quietly) look forward to the end...or the new beginning. So we celebrate a new year, and then off we go to the races...again. 

Christmas for me, is a celebration of new beginnings.  Sure, you can tell me Jesus wasn't really born on this day, and that a holiday like Christmas wasn't celebrated in December, or that many of our traditions are pagan in nature.  I don't care.  You don't like my gifts?  Give them back. I choose to celebrate right now. I choose to celebrate the birth of Jesus. I choose to honor a tradition of Santa Clause. I choose to wake up and have coffee, and celebrate the sunshine on my face and the breathe in my lungs.  I choose to be happy.

I look forward to every day I'm blessed with on this earth, and hope that I respect each one as a new beginning.  The holidays are like the Superbowl of gratitude.  Lumping Thanksgiving and Christmas together, sprinkled with New Years Day, and BAM...you've got closure to that calendar year and all the crazy that took place.  We tell ourselves that we should use this time of year to reflect on all things past and learn from them and plan what we will do differently in the next calendar year.  We read magazines and watch TV that tell us who to vote for, who to hate, what we should look like, or what we should eat, or where we should live and work, and we strive for this crap. Sorry...  that's a whole 'nuther soapbox.

Regardless of where we find motivation, we typically use this time of year to reset and call a new year into play.  We set new goals, we aim for improvement, we hope for better things and clarity along the way.  Its gives us strength and excitement to start the new year.  What will you do differently?  How will you better serve your soul? How will you better support your neighbor? How will you better love your neighbor?

With the 12 days of Christmas, I celebrate new beginnings and the closure of the past year, and the hope and joy that come with the next year. I celebrate the eternal life I choose to believe in, and the hope this provides. I celebrate the excitement of new adventures, and the completion of others.

Rejoice Punctuation, and Reunion with Rest, while sharing Presence in Doing for Others and giving Gifts from the heart, and listening to Music in anticipation of New Beginning"

Merry Christmas Y'all