My Grown Up Christmas List

It's seven thirty on Christmas morning, and the dog and I are hanging out downstairs in the family room.



Upstairs, not a creature is stirring. I expect to hear someone soon and then the joyful noise will begin. Teenager hood (and Kate soon to be 20!) has crept into the house and the sounds of children at 5 AM occur no longer.. not an unwelcome change. There is still plenty of excitement at 8 AM!

As I wait, I have been reflecting on the past few days, with all my children home and together again.

Almost all of my wishes now revolve around my children and their futures, which I suppose is how it should be. I don't know. Is there even a "should" for things like that?

I wish for them to find love. A someone in their life who loves them deeply and strongly, who supports and encourages them and who has integrity. Someone who will help them to be even better as a pair than they are alone.

I wish for them to have children, should they want them, whether biological or otherwise. If they adopt, I pray that the child(ren) will have not been in horribly adverse circumstances, but if it is, that the child will be able to overcome them with love and help. I wish that their children are healthy and bring them the joy (and other wide range of feelings on occasion!) that they have brought Rob and I.

Perhaps my greatest wish is that they remain close in their adulthood. I hope that they come together as a family, I hope that their children play together and grow up with shared memories of their own. I want them to support each other, laugh at stupid things their Dad and I did, and have each other's backs when things get hard, as they inevitably will.

My Mom was an only child so she didn't have the joys and frustrations of living with a sibling. My Dad and his sibling weren't very close in childhood or adulthood. Rob and I both had a different experience and love our siblings very much. I hope they replicate this!

I hear footsteps upstairs.. Christmas morning is about to begin!

What is *your* Christmas wish?

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