365 Days (Part 2) | ✓

348. Night Owl

348. Night Owl: Write about staying up late at night.

Do you ever have those moments that you know are special as they're happening? I feel like most of us don't realize something is special until it's gone, but sometimes we do.

Christmas is in a mere few days, and the day has been spent living in that holiday spirit that seems to swirl around us in joy and family and love. We made oodles of Christmas goodies today -- staples like peanut butter cups, chocolate-dipped pretzels, and chocolate nut clusters. My dad could single-handedly demolish the first. He loves peanut butter.

Usually I make a certain group of people in my family Christmas presents. Sometimes I make all of the girls something, and sometimes all of the kids. I wasn't able to do that this year, unfortunately, due to a lack of free time, but I did manage to complete one homemade Christmas gift: a chicken sweater for my mother. That's right, I actually sat down and for several hours crocheted a little sweater for a chicken! I think it's hilarious. We're all secretly making gifts for one person or the other. Zachary, my brother, who is an aspiring photographer, is putting his talents to good use and has made calendar for everyone, composed of shots of our family and pictures of the grandkids. Mom is making blankets for the kids. Homemade gifts will always be a hundred times more intimate and personal that anything you can buy from a store.

We haven't watched most of our Christmas movies, though, so tonight we sat down as a family and put on It's a Wonderful Life. We popped several bags of popcorn and our animals chose their favorite humans to splay themselves across. I curled up on the couch in my Dallas Cowboys (a football team) blanket and my kitten curled up in my lap, watching Clarence show George Bailey how his life, however insignificant it appeared to him, did a lot of good in his sphere. We started the movie pretty late and it ended late, which is why I write this at midnight.

I think, sometimes, if people could see us like this, when it's just me, my brother, and my parents, they would think of us differently. We are ourselves, and we do things like watch movies and have planking competitions (Zachary won, but only because I was laughing too hard!) and have tickle fights. We're silly but also serious. And I wonder why I can't be like this with everyone, but maybe that's alright. Maybe the best parts of yourself should be reserved for those who deserve to see it.