The Right Idea
So last night Bryon and I decided on an impromptu shopping trip. I wasn't really up for it because, try as I might, I'm a Scrooge. And to top it off, there were two accidents on the tollway that made the typically 15-minute drive to the playplace 60 minutes. The kids would be hungry, it would be late, Bryon and I wouldn't have much time. I was spiralling into one of those completely self-inflicted holiday meltdowns. (Pity the poor drivers in those car accidents. You get the feeling many of us were thinking how dare they inconvenience us on our way to shopping and dining. I wonder how many of us paused to think about how inconvenient a car accident would be at 6 p.m. a few days before Christmas.)
But as Sam and I were inching up the tollway to meet Bryon and the "wee ones," I heard Sam say to no one, "There is joy in my heart."
And that's what it's all about, right.
Joy you can't contain. Joy you have to express. Enjoying whatever time you have. Looking at the decorations along the road, even though you are going 5 mph. Listening to Christmas carols with the windows rolled down and a perfect breeze blowing through the car. Enjoying the crowds and the people and the generous kind spirit that can pervade this time of year if you let it. Enjoying the shopping, the gift-giving, the construction paper Christmas trees and whopperjawed gingerbread houses your kids make from milk cartons. Not fretting that your Christmas cards weren't sent out on time but smiling at what beautiful, healthy kids you have.
So, that is my holiday wish to whoever happens upon this post. Regardless of what you believe or who you believe in, I hope come January 1, you can say that you enjoyed your family, that you drank a cup of cocoa leisurely, that you decorated cookies and watched It's a Wonderful Life and took a nap covered with an obnoxious holiday blanket. That you walked out to get the morning paper in pajamas and slippers and could see your breath but you paused to recognize how marvelously blue the sky was.
And that you do it all with joy in your heart.
But as Sam and I were inching up the tollway to meet Bryon and the "wee ones," I heard Sam say to no one, "There is joy in my heart."
And that's what it's all about, right.
Joy you can't contain. Joy you have to express. Enjoying whatever time you have. Looking at the decorations along the road, even though you are going 5 mph. Listening to Christmas carols with the windows rolled down and a perfect breeze blowing through the car. Enjoying the crowds and the people and the generous kind spirit that can pervade this time of year if you let it. Enjoying the shopping, the gift-giving, the construction paper Christmas trees and whopperjawed gingerbread houses your kids make from milk cartons. Not fretting that your Christmas cards weren't sent out on time but smiling at what beautiful, healthy kids you have.
So, that is my holiday wish to whoever happens upon this post. Regardless of what you believe or who you believe in, I hope come January 1, you can say that you enjoyed your family, that you drank a cup of cocoa leisurely, that you decorated cookies and watched It's a Wonderful Life and took a nap covered with an obnoxious holiday blanket. That you walked out to get the morning paper in pajamas and slippers and could see your breath but you paused to recognize how marvelously blue the sky was.
And that you do it all with joy in your heart.
posted by Romine Family at 10:36 AM
<< Home