I flailed in the early years, anxiety swallowing all my joy. I wanted so desperately to be good at this, this motherhood thing, and I couldn’t find any evidence that I was.

Christmas is about -- making mistakes and accepting forgiveness, seeing beauty in the things you already have, sacrificing yourself for the joy of others, and most importantly, Christmas is, and has always been, about people.

She just loves that I love her -- and sometimes, when I'm caught off-guard by that spectacular truth, it stuns me.