The gift.

It's a funny thing you know... We talk about it all year. We shop for months. We listen to the music. Make plans to see family. Decorate. Wrap. We anticipate the holiday season all year long.

Something about the feeling of Christmas makes us feel so alive. Closer to each other. Nicer to each other and more forgiving. We look for charities to put our energy into. We adopt families. We put an extra 20 in the plate at church. The spirit of Christmas seems to hang in the air. For us, from Thanksgiving on, we're alive with the buzz of Christmas. I love to decorate our house and one of my favorite parts of Christmas is sitting by the lit tree, watching a Christmas movie. Or watching the faces of my little's on Christmas morning. Watching their joy. All of it just seems so magical.

And then, we have days like today. A day in which, I put my babies down for naps and sprinted down the stairs. I moved as fast as my legs would move for 2 straight hours taking every single thing down. Glitter everywhere. Broken tree limbs on the floor. Stacks of Tupperware waiting to be taken to the attic. And just like that, it's over.

Yes, the spirit is still in us, but the buzz is gone. All the magic packed up in boxes until next year. My house is still a wreck, unorganized and nothing in its proper spot. I still have work to do. But at the end of my 2 hour spree, I sat on the sofa, looked up at our empty tree and thanked God. Thanked God that once a year we feel the buzz. We come alive with the spirit. We gush thankfulness to a Lord who sent his son to live among us. To feel our pains, to know our hurts, to take our shame and make it his own. We celebrate the gift of our Savior. Through kindness and giving gifts, through donning our home with lights and ribbon, to taking care of another family, or just spending time with the ones we love. His spirit is alive in us. It runs through our veins. We feel our hearts beat faster when singing "Joy to the World" or "Away in a Manger."

I am thankful that once a year we celebrate. We celebrate His birth. We celebrate family and love and kindness. We celebrate life. And I am thankful that we not only celebrate His birth, but also his goodness. That he lives in our hearts and urges us to keep the buzz alive not just at Christmas, but all year. To be kind. To love each other harder. To do good just because. We are given the gift of His love to give to others. And that is the greatest gift of all.