Meeting Our Holiday Ghosts

I'm sure everyone who reads this is familiar with Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." Throughout the night of Christmas Eve he is "haunted" by phantoms of holiday seasons past, present, and future. What was, is, and may be "haunts" us all to an extent, I suppose. But as I was thinking about that story, I paused to think what those spirits might have shown me. Waking up at 5:00 in the morning and waiting impatiently for my parents to wake up at 6:00 so we could go open our gifts. Sneaking peeks at the Christmas tree and how many gifts Santa had brought. A flurry as gifts almost explode out of their wrapping, the blazing fire consuming the remains. I tried to remember a specific year, but I realized that I couldn't really. I don't have specific memories of Christmases past, just thoughts and feelings. As for the present Christmas, I'm trying to keep my expectations lower than usual. Our family has had a trying year and is not financially on its feet yet. I'm sure we have had similar years in the past too, and that's what makes those past Christmases so beautiful in my mind. That despite our situation, we have never not had presents on Christmas. We have always had something waiting for us under the tree and in our stockings. As to Christmases yet to come? I confess no small amount of anxiety over what it will be like. For two years I will be sleeping in a bed that is not my own, the familiarity of my "home town" far behind me. After that, I can hardly imagine what life will be like. Marriage, children, and Christmases of our own. It must be an interesting thing for parents to watch their children grow up like that. So today, think back to a Christmas that you loved. Whether it was as a teenager, the first as a couple, the first with a child, or just memorable. Think of what your own Holiday Ghosts might show you of your past, present, and future.