I’m getting married this New Year’s Eve. The jazzy song that questions, “What are you doing New Year’s Eve?” holds a whole new meaning for me (and yes, I do plan on playing it at my wedding).
Twinkle lights, snowflakes, presents wrapped in shiny red and gold, mistletoe dangling overhead – all of this will not only mean the season for celebrating the birth of my savior Jesus, but it will also hold excitement for a whole new season in my life. This brand-new season of marriage that my soon-to-be-husband and I are embarking on together.
Christmas has always brought out the little girl in me. I am in my twenties, but I still have trouble falling asleep on Christmas Eve night, and I still get a flurry of excitement when I hear Christmas music playing in a department store. But now, a time that brings out the little girl in me, is going to be quickly followed by my wedding day. Someone asked me, “When you get married do you think you’ll still be your silly, girly self?”
I can honestly say that the mature woman walking down the aisle to her new husband will be the same silly, girly woman who whispers, “Happy Birthday,” to Jesus when she wakes up on Christmas morning.
Winter is often a metaphor for things coming to an end, with bare trees, the pure blanket of snow so resembling the purity of a fresh start. I find it beautiful to choose a season that is so metaphorical for new beginnings to start my new marriage in.
But, I think to discover a new side of yourself does not always mean to deny another side. These past few years I have discovered the womanly side of myself that prepares for my future, and makes grown-up decisions – but none of that has stopped me from being the wide-eyed girl from my past. Growing up isn’t always the same for everyone; I understand this. But for me it didn’t involve an eclipse of who I once was with who I am now, but instead it involved discovering even more of myself. Growing up for me isn’t a series of erasing, but instead it’s adding more to the image.
I feared planning my wedding around the Christmas season might overshadow the importance of remembering our Savior’s birth; but instead, it is just giving us more to celebrate.