Hey Everyone! I hope you all had a great holiday season!

I couldn’t ask for a better holiday season! This holiday season, I wanted to focus on the traditions I really wanted to participate in, but never could.

On Thanksgiving Day, my sister and I watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, in its entirety, on television. I spent time with her because I had Thanksgiving dinner with my partner’s family. Up until Thanksgiving Day, I hadn’t spent time with my sister in months. It was nice to spend time with her and just laugh and act silly.

For the Christmas holiday, I wanted the holiday to be like no other… I suggested to my family before Thanksgiving that we have an “Ugly Sweater Christmas Eve.” For as long as I can remember, my immediate family always celebrated Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve, I went to my grandmother’s house and we talked for hours. My family later came over and they made their own ugly Christmas sweaters. They put my Teenage Mutant Turtle ugly sweater to shame! For the first time in a really long time, we all sat down and ate dinner and talked and laughed for hours! I spent time with my five-year old cousin and took pics with her- it was a real touching and a warm family moment.

I even bought an “Elf On The Shelf” and took pictures of him and with him. All these new things I was doing made me really happy- I was finally making the Christmas that I wanted.

However…there was one thing that I always wanted to do, but I never did… I never saw the Santa Clause at Macy’s. Ever since I was a child, I wanted to talk to Santa and tell him what my holiday wish was. Even though my family thought the idea was funny, and laughed at me, seeing Santa was a must! I just had to go! I told my partner that I wanted to visit Santa and he just said, “Let’s go!”

On the Saturday before Christmas, my partner and I went to see Santa Clause at Macy’s. To say that the wait was long was an understatement. We waited over two hours to see Santa Clause. I was so excited to see Santa that I almost crashed another’s family’s picture. When I saw Santa Clause, he said that I could sit on his lap… I was a little nervous (I’m not going to lie), but then I played along, and my partner and me sat with Santa. Santa asked me what I wanted for Christmas- I’m not going to say what it was because I’ve always believed that if I said my wish, it wouldn’t come true, but for that moment, I felt such a great happiness!

My partner surprised me by getting the pictures we took with Santa Clause. I can’t thank my partner enough for taking me to see Santa and for helping me accomplish one of my greatest childhood wishes.

The greatest surprise of my holiday season was when my best friend, Gloriann, and her husband Steve, surprised my partner and me with tickets to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular! A couple of weeks before Christmas, Gloriann, Steve, my partner, and me were all talking about seeing the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and other things we’ve done during the holidays, and what we haven’t done. When we were on our way to see the tree, we talked about how we never went to Radio City Music Hall. A few days after that, Gloriann let me know that as a present to my partner and me, we were all going to see the show! At that moment, I was paralyzed with shock! Seeing Santa Clause was one thing- now I was going to see the Rockettes!

Last Friday, we all went to Radio City Music Hall. To see the Rockettes was an amazing experience! I thought Olympic swimmers were synchronized- they have nothing on the Rockettes! After the show, we were all gathering our belongings and I turned around and saw a little girl glowing with happiness. I asked her if she loved the show, and she just smiled. Not only we were glowing with happiness, there were hundreds of people doing the same.

This holiday season made me realize that I want the “nuclear family.” One day, I want to get married and I want to settle down and have children. Growing up, my family situation wasn’t quite nuclear. Because of that, I didn’t do many things growing up. Now that I am almost thirty, I know that although I can’t go back in time, I can make my own present and make a better future for myself. If I have learned anything from the 2014 Holiday Season, is that we make our present and our future- we can take a crappy situation and make it into the best outcome possible. To quote Pastor Joel Osteen, “A setback is a setup for a great comeback.” Just because we didn’t have it easy, doesn’t mean life will be bad.

I believe that this holiday season is setting the tone for 2015. With the help and support from our loved ones, anything is possible. When our hearts and minds are open, the greatest blessings will come our way.

I hope you all have a great holiday & a very happy & prosperous New Year!

Until next time!

—Stelly

P.S.: I hope you enjoy some of the pictures that I’ve taken throughout the holiday season!