Sarah (pron. Say `Ruh) (n) def: Queen of Lynchburg, Tetris Master, Diva, Dreamer.

The day began like any other, nothing to make it any different than any other day. The air was cold and crisp outside, and beckoning to all that winter was coming. I sat working in my chair admiring the overcast sky outside, listening to the sound of my puppy playing in his kennel. I worked swiftly and efficiently today getting many tasks accomplished. By the end of the day I knew what had to be done. I had known for days what had to be done, but never got the courage to go ahead and do it.

And so as 10pm rolled around I began the task of dragging each heavy box from the basement into my living room, and began the arduous task of unpacking the Christmas Tree and the assorted decorations I had gathered throughout the years. Throughout each year, Shannon helped me with assembling our Christmas tree. That Christmas Tree…it has such a spiteful game it likes to play with us every year, scratching and poking our arms & hands until we are covered in tiny red marks and our skin burns from the lacerations. Cruel tree.

Once the tree was assembled I began to unpack each of our ornaments and with each ornament a new memory burst forth from my mind. It made me think of the fun Shannon and I had last year putting the lights on the tree and hanging each ornament together. And once we were done, sitting on the couch, cuddling, admiring the beautiful job we had done together.

This year was different however. I sat and placed each ornament on the tree, alone. There was no Shannon to help, nor anyone else to assist. This was a job I had to do by myself. Some ornaments I chose to not put up this year because of the reminder of how beautiful my life used to be. At some ornaments I laughed uncontrollably at when I laid eyes on them…the trumpet and paino ornaments that have survived 3 decades in our family. My collection of “Gone with the Wind” ornaments my Grandmother gives me every year. The COTR Nursery tag that Laura gave me last year, simply because she forget to give it back to the nursery and thought it would make a fun garnishment on my tree. Each ornament brought a different, beautiful memory to my mind.

By the end of the night the tree was decorated. The stocking were hung. The Christmas village was assembled. And as I sit here in my living room, admiring my great achievements, a very deep sense of loneliness fills my heart. Shannon isn’t here to enjoy these moments.

This is not a story of despair. For in my heart I know that this will be Shannon’s best Christmas yet. But for us left here without him, our hearts our filled with sadness and a longing to see him again. But we stand on the promise that “joy comes in the morning” and one day we will all be together again. That is the gift of salvation.

So I leave you with this one story. Last night I discovered whilst putting up my Christmas tree, that I have had an obscession that I was completely unaware of.

I am a Christmas Stocking Hoarder.

It’s true. In total I unpacked 8 Stockings that belonged to a family of 2. It made me laugh. In the stocking inventory there were :
~ Two normal decorative Stockings
~ One Dog Stocking
~ One miniature stocking
~ My Christmas Stocking that I’ve had for 20 years
~ Shannon’s stocking I bought him when we were dating
~ Shannon’s stocking I bought him when we were married
~ My Standard Insurance stocking, which was 3 feet long

I think for fun, photos may follow of these stockings. Ho ho ho…Merry Early Christmas.