I used to internally make fun of my parents (maybe just a bit) when I realized how much video footage they took of both me and my brother growing up. But sitting down tonight in the family room with the whole family watching those videos made me think just how full of wisdom my parents were to take THAT many videos. Because photos are fabulous but those tiny moments that you truly don't remember with fleeting time-sometimes bring up so many important memories and quotes and lessons that you may never again have been able to uncover or remember without those small snapshots.

Within those videos it was obvious that time changes everything. Time changes how individuals act. It changes how individuals look and what their priorities are. It changes who continues to be part of a family and who decides to leave. However, amongst all the struggles the one thing that these videos brought back was this sense of family and the importance of growing up in and around a loving family with loving uncles and aunts an cousins and parents and grandparents. There was one particular moment where I spontaneously said as a three-year-old, "This is my favorite Christmas ever." And I actually got teary eyed watching that clip because when you realize your three year old self recognized the magic in spending Christmas as a family, well-that just says it all doesn't it?

May this season for you be a time to reflect on all those who have come before us, who have raised and nurtured us and watched us grow. May it be a time to truly cherish family, to enjoy the small moments and realize no car nor house no job can ever replace the magical existence of familial presense and love and everlasting happiness. With family, every day is "The great Chrstimas ever." And isn't that what whimsy has been all about this past year? Realizing it is the small little glass pieces that help to create daily mirrors into our lives and ourselves moving forward.