Christmas Love

Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

—Proverbs 16:24

I’m hit-or-miss on Christmas cards, having totally abandoned the idea these last few years. I know you all sent them out the day after Thanksgiving, and that they had little handmade ornaments inside or something, but some years the idea of all the addresses and the photo and the stamps just puts me absolutely over the edge. However, I do still buy one little box of cards to give to the people I love, and it guarantees that I sit down, right in the midst of the insanity of the season, and tell my family and my closest friends how deeply their love has affected me.

Don’t let this season pass without taking the time and energy and creativity and risk to speak plainly with the people you love about exactly what they bring to your life. You may come from one of those families that consider a wink and a handshake true intimacy, but if Christmas hinges on traditions, please consider beginning a new family tradition. You can get away with anything at Christmas—we wear earrings that light up and eat cookies for three meals a day. This is your time to be a little wacky and get away with it.