10 Days Until Christmas

Well, Christmas is in full swing here. Two nights ago, my roommates and I decided to have a bake off. I made brownie cupcakes with mint truffles on top, Melissa made a toffee chocolate cookie and Alie made Muddy Buddies. I have yet to try my creation, but the other two taste wonderful!!!

I'm listening to Christmas music non-stop; I've decided the song that I like the most this year is James Taylor's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". A few others were competing for the top place, but alas, Jimmy won. Also, I woke up this morning to a white painted backyard and rooftop. It snowed during the night!

All this leads up to a crushing and kind of sad point: I feel like as hard as I am trying to force myself into the Christmas spirit, I can't help but feel a little down-trodden. Although I will be with my Grandmother for the holiday, I will be missing out on the Christmas that I've partaken in for the past 22 years with my parents, brother and sister. I will miss the funny traditions and food we have together and I will miss the comfortability of being around people that know me really, really well.

I bring this up because I feel this relates to a lot of the people my roommates and I are working with. Many, if not a majority of them cannot afford to fly to where their families are. Many, if not the majority of them spend Christmas by themselves and absolutely hate the holidays. Don't worry, friends, I am still the same ol' Buddy the Elf you love and adore, but I cannot help but feel a little down from time to time. In these last 10 days before the big day, I really want to focus my attention off of myself and look more toward those that cannot be with their families for the holidays, the ones that may not have anyone to be with or anywhere to go for the holidays and the ones who dread the holidays because it means, "just another day I'm away from the ones I love," as one person told me last week. That's my goal and I just thought I'd share it with you..."through the years, we all will be together, if the fates allow; and have yourself a merry little Christmas now."