Gratitude Fits Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

Dear Readers,

In reflecting on the last month and really the last year and so many before it – a decade actually – this quote really speaks to me. We have been celebrating a decade in publication around here, all year – and this last month; we took the opportunity to stop and celebrate the accomplishment and the benchmark in our business. And while a big party with friends, family, and so many wonderful people associated with YOUR Williamson, is rewarding and, of course, fun – it is the quiet moments left to reflect on what we recognized that leaves me with the most joy.

I, like most of you, am in a season of joy and gratitude right now. With the changing of the clocks, the falling of the leaves and the start to the season we know as THE HOLIDAYS, our hearts and minds turn to blessings. Well, they turn to the mad dash to buy Christmas gifts, plan holiday activities and attend as many Christmas parties as our calendar can hold! BUT… When I truly sit back and ponder the season we now suddenly find ourselves in, I am sometimes filled with a sense of what’s it all about, really? 

For me, it’s, without a doubt, that moment on Christmas morning when the children’s eyes light up as big as the reflection of the tree, and they scream with glee as they see what Santa brought. It’s the story of Santa himself, told over the weeks preceding Christmas, that fills my heart with gratitude and a sense of tradition and nostalgia of years gone by and holidays filled with love and memories. I cling to family moments around my dining room table, in a room filled with laughter and a table laden with bounty – a meal made with love shared with the ones that we hold the dearest. There are moments of music and smells, and sights all season long that awaken my mind and heart with so many emotions, and those things come to me over and over in the coming year as reminders of really, just the best times ever. 

When I think about the holidays, counter to ten years in business and that gratitude felt for the success or survival – depending on how you look at it, I am struck by the similarity of that feeling of joy in small moments and subtle things, the sadness when it’s over and the determination and certainty of pushing forward to the next time when we can feel that way again. So whether it’s in succeeding in business or being in the holiday season, our emotions and our gratitude set the stage for our future and define our past and the memories that drive us to experience it again.

Here at YOUR Williamson, we wish all of you the happiest of Thanksgivings, and we join you in celebrating this wonderful season of giving and blessings all around. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being our muse for ten years and ten more to come. We are forever grateful to Williamson County for making this magazine possible. 

Shelly Robertson Birdsong, Publisher

shelly@robertsonmediagroup.com