Merry?

Three-hundred plus days into this year's Christmas saw a multitude of firsts in my life.
First Car.
First Concert.
First TV Guesting.
First Personal Make-Up Kit (yes, I had to own & know how to use one!)
First Out-of-Country Gift to Family.
First Familial Grief.
First time to work with so many different people in the entertainment industry.
Perhaps what's making this Christmas exceptionally different is that first time unbecoming me - first time to miss the parties, every single one of them.
Zeroing in, it's work (or the dire need for it) that's deserving all the weight of the blame.
Or is it or my choices?


That I choose to work harder because I need to be responsible for the upkeep of my first car;
that I choose to abstain from staying up too late to prepare for a grand follow-up to VFort's concert;
that I choose to set my sights upon landing another TV guesting stint by staying true to the bachelor form - eligible;
that I choose to put on a productive face than a superficial, carousing face;
that I choose to save more for the Guelas' Hong Kong trip next year; 
that I choose to celebrate special occasions with my family that eternally inspires yet sporadically expires; and
that I choose to meet more people related to my career than to my partyphilic bearing.


Zeroing in, it's Life.
It's not taking our blessings for granted.
It's the expression of gratitude to Life that sustains while others have just lost it.
It's chasing Life like every waking day is a first and not a tradition to party.
Life, in itself, is a party.


Choosing to be merry this Christmas is by choice, not by carouse.


Merry Christmas to you, Reader.
And thank you for taking KristoPersnickety's Mind as your choice.