I'll Be Dreaming of You This Christmas

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been dreaming of a warm Christmas. The past few weeks in Florida have been downright cold with lows in the 40s at night, and the temperature struggling to reach the 60s during the day. 

I don’t care much for this kind of weather. Even though I grew up in Pittsburgh and loved the one or two snowy Christmases I remember, I prefer a balmy Christmas. 

When my family first moved here years ago, we wanted to spend the holiday in ways that were unconventional to us. 

So I’ve spent Christmas Day at the Magic Kingdom eating hamburgers instead of ham. 

I’ve skated on fake ice on a temporary rink outside Universal Studios, while the sun blazed down, making puddles around my blades. 

I’ve found myself on a boyfriend’s ski boat in the middle of a lake at Christmas, needing sunscreen and watching families gather under the decorated trees on their docks.

After so many Florida Christmases, about the only kind of cold weather I can tolerate is watching snow fall on TV.

So every year I watch my favorite holiday movie, White Christmas, where I can dream of ski lodges covered with snow while my air conditioner blows a cool breeze over me as I’m tucked up on my couch.

Wrapped around plenty of singing and dancing, the story unfurls some lovely gifts of truth to savor all year long. 

The characters selflessly give of their talents to help a friend, persevere to make their dreams come true, and even welcome the adventure of a train ride from Florida to the mountains of Vermont. 

And even though it’s warm and sunny once they arrive, they keep right on dreaming of a white Christmas.

I watched it again {well, maybe for the hundredth time} last week and my favorite part of the movie is the sister act, where Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen sing and dance their way into the hearts of Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. 

Although my sister and I can’t dance or sing to save our lives, we’ve quoted the lines of the song and written them in cards to each other as part of our sister code for years. 

So when I was in St. Augustine for Thanksgiving and saw a picture frame with the words to the “Sisters” song scrolled across it, I had to have it. 

Just like the sisters in the movie, my sister knows me better than anyone else does. 

She’s my truest confidante, my biggest cheerleader and my wisest advisor. She also accurately sizes up my motives and can set me straight and call me out because she knows what I’m thinking. She is the one person whose judgment I trust completely because she wants nothing more than the best for me.

Why wouldn’t I trust the one who knows me best? 

I ask myself the same question about God.

God has known me from the beginning and can see the entire span of my life from the past, the present, and into the future. 

I’m not sure I would have imagined that my future included writing a blog and having you join me every week, where you are so kind and gracious with your encouraging comments.

Three years ago when I felt God stirring some interest in me to write a blog, I couldn’t understand it. I’m reserved and reflective, and writing a blog feels a lot like going to the grocery store in my pajamas and slippers.

I had no idea how to create a blog. When I mentioned it to a few friends, they confidently told me they’d have me and up and running in no time, and all of a sudden I found myself gasping for air as I was pushed into the blogging pool.

I posted a photo a friend took of my living room, wrote a few paragraphs and hit publish. I calmed down after I realized no one was actually reading my blog except for my mother and my sister. 

But God sees me as I was meant to be, and he calls me what I am not yet to show me what I could be.

He is helping me discover the gifts he gave me and how to pursue the dreams he’s planted in my heart. 

He’s giving me opportunities to live with courage and perseverance, and showing me how to enjoy the adventure of whatever this life may bring. 

And, friend, this is what I’m praying for you too. 

Whether you’re dreaming of days that are warm with sunshine or white with snowflakes, I’ll be dreaming of you on Christmas. 

I pray you’ll feel wrapped in God’s extravagant love, and that your heart will be filled with hope and love and peace and joy.

I’m going to be wishing for a warm day here in Florida on Christmas but I’ve just heard that some members of my extended family are spending Christmas in Paris this year. 

I wonder how cold it gets in Paris in December? It rather sounds like an enchanting idea for Christmas that I might be able to warm up to. 

I think I'll ask my sister if she wants to go with me.

I'm linking up with my friends at Holley Gerth's place at Coffee for your Heart and at Kelly Balare's place with Cheerleaders of Faith. Will you join me and click the image to read more holiday cheer?