A Merry Christmas From Santa

Santa is a bit busy, since it's about 2:35 AM when I start this, so I'm going to blog a bit for him. He still has most of the world to cover before the night wears out. Santa knows that this is a really tough time of the year for me. I flat out did sit down and cry a couple of times yesterday, and wanted to a few more times.

Things he gave me:

1. I have not 1, not 2, but 3 jobs in this icky economy.
2. I have a wonderful family that has taken me in and loves me, and is helping me cope with the big let down that is life not going as planned.
3. I ran into an old high school friend while working at Best Buy yesterday who was shocked that my GPA is a bit low for grad schools. It felt great to have someone feel that way. I feel like I used to be so smart. BYU changed a lot of my self perception, probably for the better, but man it did feel good. Plus it was just nice to see someone and have them hug me and be happy to see me. I was probably a bit of a prideful snot last time she met me.
4. I have a large and loving family, even if we are a bit unconventional.
5. I have the best friends in the whole world. Seriously, I was very upset yesterday and wanted people to talk to. Over chat Jeff immediately made me laugh and feel better. My great friend Ben texted me to see if he could call, which was very thoughtful since I did work yesterday, unfortunately I didn't hear my cell phone until it was too late because he was enjoying his family Christmas Eve traditions. But the fact that he tried to call really cheered me up. I don't have words for how much that made my day.
6. My best friends Ken and Jen have been pretty constant phone and chat buddies for the last several weeks, and despite a tough year it sounds like they're going to have a great Christmas. Literally, every time I talk to them I love them more. There's nothing better then that.
7. My wonderful family lets me experiment with cooking when I get the time, and they eat it, even when it doesn't turn out all that well (plus my mom made me a delicious B-day dinner).
8. The most wonderful gift of all, has been that in those quiet, lonely and sad moments I've felt cause and need to reach out and touch the divine gift that this season is meant to celebrate. Most importantly that it's there, and recently I've felt like I understand it a bit better then I used to. I don't think any mortal can understand the full scope of it, but it is the beautiful labor of our lives to understand here a little and there a little and to help others gain understanding in the same way. He answers our prayers, and there is enough healing in his wings to tend to lonely mid twenty-somethings, as well as to the weighty matters of sin and death. That gift never goes stale, never stops being needed or wanted, and only grows in power and sweetness as time goes on. But perhaps that is the effect of experience talking. Without that gift I doubt any of us could deal with the insanity that the season can bring. I'm even thankful that we go ahead and celebrate this time of year, when the lessening of light makes a bit of holiday prompted remembrance especially useful.

So Santa has delegated this year. That's ok, I think the best gifts tend to happen when he does. Oh I did go ahead and continue my fun single tradition of buying myself a Christmas gift. This year I went a bit over board and bought myself a new computer, with a shiny video card and a new computer game or two to go with it. In my defense it was on sale pretty cheap.


Merry Christmas to everyone, I love you all. If you have a link to this blog it's because you're on my list of my favorite people in the world. If you happen to stumble on this blog then I hope it cheers you up to read some of my things, and I hope that you're having a good year, and will have many more to come.

May God bless you all.

P.S. The Bones link above is a little pop culture treat similar to what I've encountered over at Cheerful Cynicism, a blog of one of my college friends.