Tidings of great joy.

"And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord."

It's Christmas once again.

This time last year, I was full of hope that things would get better, and was struggling every day with the cold hard truth that they weren't.

My aunt passed away Christmas, and it hit me hard. I hadn't known her much, and that was probably the thing that got me, that I never got the opportunity. Looking through pictures of her and her husband and little boy, tears started pouring from my eyes.
"He's going to grow up not knowing his mommy, he's lost his wife, and I'll never know her". Those were the thoughts in my head as I cried over the pictures and prayed for her.

I was also having a rough time with my attacks, 3-5 a day at 30-45 min each. It was hard. Christmas Eve we had an orphan party, and I had attacks while company was over. This was SO incredibly embarrassing at the time.

Now, I've been doing much better!
No attacks for the most part. Tonight as we sat around opening our 1 present each, and as we laughed, I stayed up. I was able to laugh and laugh and laugh with my family, unrestrained.
We have a house, and we have each other.
Material gifts are nice and useful and a way to show love and affection and thought.

But I've been given the greatest gift of all, my life. And I won't ever forget that this Christmas, Christmas of 2008, I have been given my freedom and life.

Merry Christmas to all
-Bri

*Edit: I was able to put a smile on a strangers face today. I made fudge with my mamma, and then wrote a card and packed up some fudge, and brought it to the fire fighters. When I handed him the fudge and told him it was for the station crew, he was so happy. You could hear the surprise in his voice!
"Well Merry Christmas to you too!"

<3