Tuesday, December 13, 2005 (in just twelve more days, I will be 13!!!!)~

Dear Journal~

I guess I am lucky I was born on Christmas Day, December 25th. I mean, I know it is a major holiday and all, but I used to get all bent out of shape about it; but now that I am older, I see my Christmas Birthday as a blessing in disguise.

For one thing, people hardly ever forget it. Oh, sure, there ARE the decorations, the presents, the parties and all the celebrating (and also the time off from school; I LOVE that!! :) ), but underneath it all, it is still my birthday, and I love the extra attention that having a Christmas Birthday brings to me. This year is an especially important milestone in the birthday department because I turn 13 years old, and I will become an official teenager. I will no longer be a child: I will be turning into a young lady, and I will be entering a whole new phase in my life's journey.

December 25 also means celebrating a Miracle that occurred in my life. For it was almost five years ago when I suffered a stroke that could have very easily killed me, and it is ONLY because of God's Grace and Mercy that I am still here. I wasn't expected to live or recover as well as I did, but I eventually got better, and now it's to the point to where I don't look like I even HAD a stroke! :) I am talking and walking just like a normal kid (okay, I use crutches and leg braces, but that isn't because OF the stroke!), and I still have my "smarts". :) I don't remember much about getting sick with this stroke (maybe it's a good thing???...), but I do remember maman and daddy and my family being sad, but then I got better, and soon happy times were back in our household, and now I thank God for allowing me to survive the way I did! :)

I also will be celebrating Christmas with my family (and some of my friends, like Jenna Aurora Doucet and her husband, Michael, and also Sari Gustaffsenn and her husband, Nikolas, who are coming ALL the way from FINLAND to be here!!), and I will no doubt be getting Christmas Birthday calls and wishes from my friends like Kendra Williams and her family (and also Rebekkah Rachel Cohen and her parents in California), and also my sisters Dwerlina, Tanya, and Steffi will be home from college, as will my oldest sister Lightning and HER family, and it is going to be a huge Christmas Bash with the family! :) There will be presents EVERYWHERE, and the Christmas music will be playing, and the lights will be twinkling brightly as we celebrate the Birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! :) (People really don't know WHEN Christ's Birthday REALLY is, but they celebrate it on Christmas Day, and I think that is cool, because Christmas is such an important day on the yearly holiday calendar.) I am also lucky in having a birthday on Christmas because I get to spend it with the people I love and cherish the most, and I will get to see friends and get to eat my favorite things and just generally get spoiled! *Grins*

So here's to Christmas, and here's to my 13th Birthday! SAAA-LUTE!!! :)

~Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux, ALMOST 13. :D