Nobody Cried

My idea of a successful Christmas, for the past several years, has been if none of my children cry on Christmas day. They've been known to cry because they didn't get the gifts they wanted or another sibling got the gift they wanted or the day was too short or too long or something or other.

This year, nobody cried.

Perhaps it's because my children are getting older. My oldest is 17. The youngest is 12. Perhaps it's because I listened carefully to what they wanted, purchased the gifts, and nobody changed their mind at the last minute. Or, perhaps it's just the luck of the draw. I don't know.

But this year, I am grateful.

Not so much because nobody cried on Christmas day. I am grateful for that, to be sure. But I am grateful that we are a family, that we're still a family. That we seem to have weathered the storms, against the odds in many cases, and we're still afloat. We've taken on water. We've had our trials and we're still struggling through them. But it seems that, so far, right has prevailed.

I love it when right prevails.