a super late christmas post.

i used to dread christmas. 

{geeze, that sounds really bad. sorry jesus.} 

 some interesting family dynamics mixed with the anniversary of my mom's death early in december...

well, it made it less than a happy time. 

 and i just felt like there was too much pressure. 

that all that's wrong in the world should be instantly made right, and if it wasn't then you should basically scrap the whole holiday season altogether and just wait for it all to blow over. 

 pessimistic much? 

 but sometime over the years, i realized that christmas centers in the birth of jesus who came to redeem all that is broken, messed up, and generally imperfect in the world. 

 and if we wait until our own ridiculous idea of "perfection" is realized, then we will be waiting a
very. long. time. 

 so it's better to just get over myself and enjoy all the big and small moments that are rich with goodness and love and life. 

 so without further adieu, the best of the "good stuff" from christmas break 2012...