Sitting next to a fire while sipping black coffee from my mug, the Christmas tree is lit as snow falls gently outside. It is almost too perfect of a Christmas scene to wake up to the first day back home from college. As I am sitting here, I can’t help but think about deeper things than the Star Wars movie that is playing on the television screen as a galactic background noise. Seinfeld could be playing with its nonsense and I still wouldn’t be watching the TV, not that I would follow the plot of the show anyways. I just keep thinking about the snow that is falling outside, as I sit here with my warm mug next to the warm fire. It’s paradoxical how a mere wall separates me from the frigid air outside; how I can see out the window and look at the “Christmas Card” image, but as I sit here in the warmth, I don’t touch the falling snowflakes. This makes me think to myself: “Do you really have to feel something to see its beauty?”

These are the thoughts that I have on a daily basis. As a writer, you become naturally more in tune with the things around you, and your own feelings. These sentiments lead me to believe that the more you feel things, the more beautiful they become. Like being surrounded by presents underneath the Christmas tree; the physical gifts with bows and glitter galore hardly mean anything without the people that are with you while you open the gift. With the people you love around you as you open the gifts, you can almost see their fingerprints on the presents the wrapped, folding the corners neatly and carefully with the thought of you on their minds. It’s the feelings that they bring that make a gift much more meaningful, and truly beautiful.

The beauty of the holiday season lives in the gift of giving, but the gift of love as well. One of the best feelings you can give someone is to radiate love when you are around them. Give an extra hug to your mom before you leave the house, tell your grandma you adore her and her baking, make your dad breakfast out of your reclusive love; it is time to start feeling.