I am Grateful for My Favorite Season: Christmas Season :-) ❤

Good evening my sweet and grateful steemians and faithful prayer warriors. I have been "offline" for quite sometime due to some malfunctions of our laptop. I just got it this afternoon and so I immediately tried to post. Tonight I just want to share my entry for the writing contest from the other platform and its about my gratefulness of my favorite season. I have included the link of my original post below for your reference. I hope it will worth your time and may God bless us all.

Good day everyone. First of all I would like to thank God for blessing me and including me in the list of the winners of the first week GV Writing Contest. I am just so overwhelmed with joy upon knowing the result. And today I am writing my entry for this week.

What is your favorite season?

I have several seasons in mind and it's kind of hard to choose only one. But I will try to justify my choice not because this is a contest but because it's how and what I feel about this season since my childhood and up to the time that I reached my maturity age (as if I've matured enough though :-D ).

(Photo source: taken by me using my Lumia 535 Microsoft Phone. I chose this photo as an inclusion to this post because that is how exactly I will be reacting whenever I receive gifts from loved ones. See how excited and happy my sweet Carleign in this photo :-) <3 )

Growing up in a not-to-do-well family is very challenging at times because it is living by faith and not by sight literally. There were times that we just drink water for meals. Oftentimes some neighbors were just so kind and generous enough to share their food to us and that's it another day is over and praise God our stomach is full. Me and my brother were taught the value of hard earned money at a young age. So whenever Christmas season is near, we do our caroling and we earn money from singing Christmas songs from one house to another. We usually start at 6 pm after eating our dinner and we go back home at 9 pm. Each night we earn at least a hundred at the most and more than 50 pesos each to say the least.

I remembered so well that every New Year I have counted my money and it can buy me a new dress or a new pair of shoes. But you know what? I don't buy those stuff instead I give it to my nanay and tell her to buy food for our family. My parents are so happy for my gesture. I was in the 4th grade if my memory serves me right. My nanay is in tears holding my money and she just told me to keep it or use it in buying school stuff or anything for me. I insisted and she said that they will do everything to provide for us. I got it back and keep it.

Since then, Christmas season became my favorite season among all the seasons here because it is the season to earn (at least for me). It is also the season wherein I get to receive gifts from my godparents and friends.

But as the years go by, I realized that Christmas is not just about singing Christmas carols, receiving and giving gifts, partying, reunions, colorful Christmas lights and lanterns. It is all about God's unconditional love for us all. The very moment when the three wise men saw the star above, it marked our good, good Father His great love for us because He sent His one and only Son here on earth to save us from our sins.

What makes you grateful for this season?

That's what makes me grateful for this season. If God did not send His one and only Son here on earth to die for my sins then I would be forever living a life without a purpose. Since I came to know the Lord, each Christmas reminds me of how much He loves me and cares for me. I have gained a deeper and more meaningful definition of what Christmas is all about. It is the most celebrated season in the world and everyone is so happy and excited about this season. In some parts of the world, they have so much preparation for this season. Others do charity works and share their blessings to our less fortunate brothers and sisters. I have joined such organization during my college days. It is really tiring because you have to travel for hours before getting there. But very rewarding too because you will feel the happiness of these people smiling sweetly back at you and they keep on saying thank you po, maraming salamat po. These smiles and these awesome gestures are priceless.

But when my father died last June 28, 2016, I couldn't help but be sad and lonely and all the more during Christmas season. It is the season that we are happy and complete before. Of course we still miss him and we will forever miss him because he is a part of our family and we just couldn't help but shed some tears during Christmas because of the pain of losing him is still here in our hearts. But by God's grace, we were all able to go thru the painful process and finally moved on with our lives even without him. Christmas will still be Christmas with or without our loved ones. And no matter what, let us always be grateful for everything that we have. Let's keep sharing the love of Jesus not only during Christmas season but everyday, let us continue to share the love of Jesus to everyone.

I would like to give my sincere thanks and congratulations to @paradise-found aka Papa Bear for this awesome writing contest and to my @gratefulvibes family and also to @siamcat and @richq11 and to everyone who will join...congratulations and thank you all very much.

here's the link of my original post: https://deals.weku.io/community-deals/@sashley/my-entry-to-gv-writing-contest-week-2-i-am-grateful-for-my-favorite-season-christmas-season

I am forever grateful to God every day of my life for giving me everything I need and praise Him all the more for not giving me everything I want. To God be all the honor, praise and glory ❤ :-)

I am @sashley a.k.a. shirleynpenalosa, a recipient of God's love, mercy and grace. :-) ❤

Have a blessed and cooler month of October 2019 everyone :-) ❤

I am forever grateful to God every day of my life for giving me everything I need and praise Him all the more for not giving me everything I want. To God be all the honor, praise and glory ❤ :-)

Please do check out @paradise-found's posts and you're welcome to join the @gratefulvibes family curation trail. :-) ❤

(credits: sis @sunnylife)

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(credits: @bloghound)