‘Tis the Season

The day after Halloween, I woke up to quite a mess on our dining table. It was not residual costume attire: That was piled high in our bathroom. It was not spilled cereal:  This was on the floor instead. It was not Halloween candy: These were mostly in my

stomach. It was many scraps of paper, glue, tape and scissors.  Our Kindergarten enthusiast had begun working on her Christmas list. Just like every single store-front you have walked into since the day after Halloween, our five-year old was completely locked and ready for the big season of Christmas!!

When I caught her in quiet independent play, I heard her whispering little sweet wishes to Santa,

 “Dear Santa, please bring me this stuffed deer (pointing lovingly to a picture in a catalog) and if you can’t, that’s ok, because maybe instead, you can bring me this electric monkey?  You know the one I saw on that commercial?   You have lots to do. But if you can, I would be so happy and I  can leave you something too because probably, you don’t get that many gifts? But I will give you one! Your friend and little buddy, Kalia.”

Her Santa list, a detailed collage, had a menagerie of plush animals, lively little toys and an eclectic array of pretty much everything she could cut out of an Oriental Trading Company magazine, which I am convinced they print only for the eyes of elves.  Honestly, have you ever seen smaller text?!

On the fifteenth of November, I woke up and saw yet another Santa letter on the table.

Cut in the shape of a heart, and sweetly detailed, the message read,

This season is so stock full.  Everyone, it seems, is hustling to holiday parties, working to achieve end of year goals at work, prepping for classroom celebrations, plays and performances, gathering gifts to purchase for family and friends, creating cards to send out to family and friends.  Our family is involved in most of the above as well! And it can be not only tiresome and overwhelming, but also, sadly, without purpose or true meaning for the special season of Christmas.

I guess we can do better than just sharing our gifts during this season. We can make sure our gifts are loaded to the brim with joy.  We can make illuminate the gifts we share with little slices of bliss. We can sprinkle joy wherever and whenever we dabble in our gifts and share them forward.  We can let go of worrying about 4th quarter work goals, lists upon lists of things we think we should have accomplished in 2018, any worry about gaining weight during the holidays, attending every holiday mixer we are invited to, perfecting the ultimate Christmas card and truly anything else that carries no value in the things that really matter.

After all, if we are going to begin celebrating Christmas on November 1st, we best have a plan for how our gifts will be most meaningful to others.

Our little elf is wearing Santa hats on picnics, making creative surprise gift boxes for family members and talking about the best recipes for reindeer snacks. I love it. She is filled to the brim with spirit of the season. And it is contagious.  Her sisters, are getting their heads wrapped around what is meaningful in this season.  They are helping more in our home, enjoying the time to partake in cooking and getting ready to adorn our little holiday nest.

I’ll take the morning cuddles, the afternoon naps and the funny little moments at the dinner table over any glitter-bombastic holiday bash.  And I’ll happily stay wrapped up in all things that give more space and quiet to this beautiful season of the year.

“Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.”  Hamilton Wright Mabie