A few days ago I spent the evening with my girlfriends watching one of my favorite Christmas movies, Love Actually. No matter how many times I see it, my heart responds to its romantic sappiness and its poignant moments. I cheer for those who find love in the most impossible and ridiculous circumstances, Hollywood style, and cry for those who feel love’s heartache in ways that real people experience every day, but is somehow amplified at Christmas time.

A recurring theme in the movie is the idea that Christmas is the one opportunity you have each year to take a chance and express your love to someone who, despite your best efforts, or in some cases really lame efforts, may not know how you truly feel about them. For some reason this year I find myself mulling over the possibilities of what our Universe would be like, if all of us, in the spirit of the season, took a chance…

The holidays always heighten that empty, something is missing kind of feeling. As busy as I am with work, wrapping up a major remodel of my home, shopping, and holiday gatherings, there are moments when I am alone with my thoughts; when I’m stuck in traffic, before I fall asleep, and that time between waking up and actually getting out of bed each morning. Traveling faster than the speed of sound, these tiny video clip memories whirl around inside my head, and for some reason I always pause for the ones that hurt the most, lingering long enough to make my heart ache.

My thoughts hit a variety of emotional nerves, longing, loneliness sadness and sometimes regret. I miss my parents terribly during the holidays. The memory of my mom’s last Christmas, seven years ago, is bathed in the amazing light of our family’s love. I remember leaving her one night and kissing her three times on the lips, between each kiss saying, I…