ADVENT

Only five more nights 'till Christmas Eve.  Every year seems to be different than the last.  Last year I was laid up post-surgery.  Missed Advent, concerts, shopping, cooking . . . you name it, I missed it.  This year we decorated our tree early, started our gift selecting on time and I even got the Christmas pages of my collage book up-to-date.  A fire, music, a grandchild and collaging makes for the most relaxing hour.  Homework done, she sketches while I cut and paste.  We share gummies while we work.  That's simple living! I love it.

 

I remember when I was practicing law full-time I'd call my mom, a retired history teacher, and she'd be enjoying an afternoon sit-down, wrapping gifts and baking her famous lace cookies.  I couldn't imagine that kind of leisure.  For awhile I didn't even envy it; it seemed decadent somehow, not a productive use of time. I'd be driving home from the office and she and my dad had eaten already. She'd spent the whole day without an adrenaline surge; I wasn't ready for that. 

I didn't see that she had lived decades without the time for a hobby, that until she retired she had to squeeze in her grandparenting time with my children.  I didn't see her life then as a well-deserved respite from the hundreds of students she had lovingly taught, as time for her to be herself, with only the demands she created.  

My mom died at 82 after a twenty-year retirement.  She learned to quilt and won prizes.  She and my dad moved to a small beach community where she joined book groups, the library board and a out-reach group for newcomers. She read and re-read history non-stop.  My parents had more time then to appreciate the rest of the family and to show love to one another.  They had time to watch the winter sun set over the ocean. My husband and I on the other hand, were meshing our travel schedules.  I was grateful for airports that had some good gift-buying options.  Does that ring a bell?  Are you there now?  I could shop for the Christmas dinner fixings, get the kid's and adult's tables set, scoop the torn wrapping paper into trash bags and fall asleep all on a moment's notice. Is that where you are?  What are your "then and now" Christmases like?  How have they changed?

Actually it's all good, isn't it?  My niece has 4-year-old twins.  During the Christmas pageant one of them had his fingers in his ears.  Her household reminds us why we have children when we are young.  My oldest grandson has never once said he needed or wanted anything.  All his gifts are surprises.  Our younger grandson plans to build a computer.  His list of component parts is quite lengthy. Our granddaughter just asked for anything soft.  I'm pretty much on that wavelength.  

I hope your last week of Advent is going at least somewhat the way you'd like it to.  I'm looking forward to hearing the Angels Sing on High the nearer we get to Christmas.  In Christ, Nina Naomi