merry christmas!

The holiday season always seem to be a time of questions: When can we get together? What should I get dad this year? How many cookies can I possible eat today? What really matters?

This has been a year of question-asking and I’d be lying if I said that it hasn’t been hard. But as a dear friend recently reminded me, I was made to do hard things. Hard things are the things worth doing, the things that draw us towards our true self. They stretch us, like we stretch the waistline of our favorite pair of jeans over this holiday season.

Advent urges us: something new is coming. I feel expectant, excited for what is next. Will there be hard things? Absolutely--but I was made to do hard things; you were made to do hard things.

Doing hard things means believing in yourself enough to take on a new challenge. Doing hard things means saying I’m sorry or I love you or Goodbye. Doing hard things means facing the not-so-certain and walking in that direction nonetheless. Doing hard things means asking for help. Doing hard things means taking the time to listen to and care for yourself. Doing hard things means asking the hard questions.

A full life is full of hard things--relationships, decisions, dilemmas, vulnerable moments, acts of courage. I am grateful that mine is so full!

Many kisses & Christmas cookies,

Alyssa + Olive