Before time runs out, I wanted to take the time to wish you a very Merry Christmas!\u00a0 I hope you have a wonderful holiday, however that looks for you.\u00a0 Maybe that’s a house full of loved ones, hosting the big turkey dinner.\u00a0 Maybe it’s just you, sitting quietly watching movies by yourself enjoying the peace and quiet.<\/p>\n
Maybe you’re grieving this Christmas and you can’t wait for it all to be over.\u00a0 Sending big warm hugs in your direction.<\/p>\n
Maybe it’s different because you aren’t able to get together with loved ones.\u00a0 Maybe you’re missing someone.\u00a0\u00a0Maybe it’s been a challenging year and you just don’t feel like celebrating.<\/p>\n
Maybe it causes too much stress with the cost of living so crazy high and it feels overwhelming with the cost of food and gifts and traveling and more.<\/p>\n
Maybe it’s just different and you just don’t feel the spirit and, like me, you hear that classic Christmas song by Faith Hill, and you wonder “where are you Christmas?”<\/p>\n
I was driving to work earlier this week and the song came on the radio and I honestly felt tears.\u00a0 Normally, I love the song because it’s from the Grinch – one of those movies you just HAVE TO WATCH every Christmas season.<\/p>\n
This year, the lyrics hit different right off the bat.<\/p>\n
Where are you Christmas
\nWhy can’t I find you
\nWhy have you gone away
\nWhere is the laughter
\nYou used to bring me
\nWhy can’t I hear music play
\nMy world is changing
\nI’m rearranging
\nDoes that mean Christmas changes too
\nWhere are you Christmas
\nDo you remember
\nThe one you used to know
\nI’m not the same one
\nSee what the time’s done
\nIs that why you have let me go, oh
\nChristmas is here
\nEverywhere, oh
\nChristmas is here
\nIf you care, oh
\nIf there is love in your heart and your mind
\nYou will feel like Christmas all the time<\/p>\n
Yep, things are different in our house this year.\u00a0 My husband and I found ourselves empty nesters for the first time this year.\u00a0 And it’s been challenging in so many ways.\u00a0 Lots of adjusting.\u00a0\u00a0Normally, it’s the kids that bring the house to life with the holiday spirit.\u00a0 They get excited about decorating and we go for the tree as a family.<\/p>\n
I miss it. So much.<\/p>\n
And that’s why this song just hit different this year because this year – it IS different.<\/p>\n
My heart goes out to you if you are hurting this year, for whatever the reason, but I hope you too find the spirit of the holidays and you find some joy this season.<\/p>\n
“If there is love in your heart and your mind, you will feel like Christmas all the time.”<\/p>\n
I’ll keep trying, if you do.<\/p>\n
Merry Christmas.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before time runs out, I wanted to take the time to wish you a very Merry Christmas!\u00a0 I hope you have a wonderful holiday, however that looks for you.\u00a0 Maybe that’s a house full of loved ones, hosting the big turkey dinner.\u00a0 Maybe it’s just you, sitting quietly watching movies by yourself enjoying the peace","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":31976,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"featured_img_display":"Yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afternoons"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-20 11:41:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"react_link":"https:\/\/foxfm.com\/blogs\/afternoons\/2024\/12\/the-view-from-here-where-are-you-christmas\/","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cfgxfm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cfgxfm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cfgxfm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cfgxfm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cfgxfm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31975"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cfgxfm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31977,"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cfgxfm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31975\/revisions\/31977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cfgxfm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cfgxfm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cfgxfm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cfgxfm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}