The holidays are really about celebrating love.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday filled with love no matter what you celebrate. My family celebrates Christmas. My husband normally works on Christmas Day. We’ve been together for 19 years, and out of those 19 years I can count the Christmases we’ve spent together on one hand. The rare years he’s off, we’ve always traveled or hosted our family celebration at our house. This year was the first Christmas Day that we were able to spend the day together – just the two of us.

We spent the rest of the day watching Christmas movies and enjoying each other’s company. When we ran out of Christmas movies, we chilled out in our peaceful living room. We cuddled on the couch for a while and gazed at the lights on our tree. Then we had a little snack and my husband snoozed in his recliner while I wrote a little. The only sound was our fish tank filtration system. It was blissful.

Presents and feasting are fun, but love is what I enjoy most about the holiday season. When my family gets together and starts teasing each other about silly things, my heart just sings. Watching my grandson climb up onto a chair to sit next to me at the table nearly made me cry. He’s 16 months old, and always on the go. The fact that when he sat down, he did so next to me is pretty special.

Spending Christmas Day alone with my husband was a rare treat. It’s been a very long time since we simply cuddled together and watched the Christmas lights on our tree. We’re both extremely busy and work opposing shifts. He’s coming to bed around the time my alarm goes off in the morning. Those quiet moments spent together reinforce our love for each other.

Heart disease runs in my family, so I support the American Heart Association in any way I possibly can. I was excited to submit “Once Upon a Winter Storm” knowing that if my work was selected I would be helping fund important research into that which has taken so many people from me.

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