Illusion of attachment

It's been quite awhile since a new illusion of my choosing caught on. Last time something like that happened was when i made a very interesting turn in life. Not going to say that it was wrong, though it may very possibly have been. But then again, one person's wrong may be another's good.
That being said, there's something in the air about now. A sort of salty smoky smell that I usually blame on snow or winter, the same that makes you feel that Christmas is near. Fact is, this scent may only be a piece of my imagination, an olfactory Freudian slip of sorts, or maybe just the way I've described it. That's not important at all. What counts is the impression it carries.

All of us have been taught that Christmas and the holidays are times that should be spent with one's family, those dear to us, but is that really so? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for it. Still, there's a thought that keeps going through my mind: in our pursuit of family, aren't we neglecting something else?

Family is the people that you grew up having near you, the ones that cared about you and your dreams and always wanted the best for you. And that brings up an interesting point, aren't your friends based on the same thing? A close friend is or, better said, should be a person that would give more than you expect to see you happy, feels the same pain when you're down and the same join when you're up and cares about how you're doing. So what makes them less important than family?

Is it the fact that you're not bound to them by genetics? Or is it that we met them later on in life? Or is it simply the value of the time you spend with each of them?

Maybe it's all of the above, maybe it's not. But who cares? These are people who care about you no matter what, the ones that pass over the small mistakes you make and that poke fun at you for years to come over some of the sillier bigger ones. They are also the only ones you risk losing over time. Friends and family are here and now...a-holes and jerks are forever.

My guess is that winter should be changed. Not the holiday or the spirit of giving, but the sense of values that come with it. Let's drop the old "family comes first" line and replace it with a newer, better one: "those who care for you, those you care about, come first". Lets make Christmas less about being there for the few and more about treasuring each waking moment, as well as the laying ones, that is spent in the company of our most valuable gifts, the folk we just can't get enough of.

And maybe that way we'll breach one more illusion and be ready to accept one thing, that we are never alone. We merely forgot that we have more than we could ever value in gold or jewels. We forget about loving, caring and smiling; things that we give and receive constantly.

See you around folks! :)

PS: Yes, i do think that's what we all need.