12/21/2025
I'm NOT 50, not yet,
(29 and holding🤨) but you get the point.
It doesn't matter what 'religion' you are;
so much can happen in a year.
Be present, be patient, be thankful.
Slow down for a minute and take time to enjoy the chaos.
Appreciate those that show up and allow the ones who haven't or continue not to- well, allow them to go. It's ok.
In case no one told you- it's all going to be alright. I promise.
-Pastor Stephanie
You are sooooo LOVED!
♥️
John 3:16
Christmas changes after 50.
Not in a way that takes something away—
but in a way that reveals what was always there.
When I was younger,
I thought Christmas lived in the noise.
The torn paper,
the last-minute assembling,
the full house,
the early mornings that came too fast.
I thought the magic was loud.
But now I know
it’s quiet.
It’s in the glow of the tree
before the day begins.
It’s in the memories that arrive unannounced—
some sweet,
some tender,
some carrying names I still miss.
After 50, Christmas becomes reflective.
Every ornament holds a season of life.
Every recipe remembers a pair of hands.
Every carol opens a door
to who we were then—
before we knew
how quickly time would move.
I didn’t understand back then
how fast children grow,
how parents age,
how suddenly a year becomes a memory.
But here I am now—
older,
a little slower,
and far more grateful.
Because Christmas after 50
isn’t about the rush anymore.
It’s about the stillness that settles in
when you finally realize
that time itself is the gift.
It’s holding the people you love
a little longer.
It’s releasing what never mattered.
It’s thanking God for another December—
another breath,
another chance to love well.
It’s sitting quietly
and realizing the greatest miracles
were never under the tree.
They were around it—
every child,
every answered prayer,
every ordinary moment
that turned out to be sacred.
Maybe that’s the beauty of growing older—
you stop chasing wonder
and start recognizing it.
So here’s to Christmas after 50—
where joy is gentler,
gratitude is deeper,
love is wider,
and the meaning is clearer than ever.
And if you’re reading this,
may you rest in this truth:
even as the years change us,
God’s love does not.
It was faithful then.
It is faithful now.
And it will be faithful
in every Christmas still to come.
