Musing :: Mind : The Gift

I had a good un elaborate Christmas. In fact if I told you just how un elaborate it was, it might be too much and shock you into next year! (See what I did tried there?) I honestly found it to be a lesson in it self. How funny that  I just mentioned how traditions are important to me but this year was a Christmas much unlike my usual. Not my usual friends, not my usual routine, not my usual schedule. This year the usual was unavailable due to the unpredictability of life events. Sometimes the things you think are stationary surprise us..

 Nature itself, keeps surprising you, with her we've learned to expect the unexpected but that only works from memory...that only works after we've been scared, we expect to be burned again in much the same way, expecting the same pain...really not expecting the unexpected at all. Oh the silly humans that we are! This year nature dropped a common cold on me that threw me completely out of wack and all the baking and decorating and events I'd planned to attend were impossible to master. What's interesting is that i still had a great time! In my heart I felt this resounding sense of ...contentment? Happiness! Well...after getting over the cold that is. Nothing was routine about this Christmas, nothing but the feelings I felt. What a lesson!

Gifting was minimal this year, our economy is dead and everybody is broke, especially in my newly uni educating self. However I still found a chance to give something to my mum. Something she wanted very much for a long long time, I got to see her eyes light up and her smile widen as she opened it. I was happy.

Someone gifted me some of my favorite chocolates! Here they are very expensive (over $50!) so they are definitely a huge luxury! I couldn't be more pleased! Such a simplistic present you may say... I will eat it and then it will be gone. Yet I'm so grateful! These are my favorite chocolates! This person went out of their way to get me this gift that cannot last to make me happy. The happiness will last though, the appreciation I feel because of their action will be remembered for so long!

When i attended the Christmas tree lighting, I met a very bright, very friendly 2nd grader. She was so sweet. Her mother was one of the people helping to organize the event. Unfortunately, as her mother organized and got caught up in the hustle and bustle that came with the toy give away, the toy she had set aside for her daughter was pretty much stolen, leaving my new little friend to cry the night away... I felt horrible for her and braved the Christmas eve rush ( which gratefully was not as bad as I expected!) and scooped up a little trinket I hope she likes :) A complete strange, left a tiny footprint on my heart with her big smile, inquisitive eyes and brave sentences.

The ability to give to others really is a gift in itself. What can match the ability to give to others through a simple material gesture? So much of our fears, our pains and our aches are not material, hiding deep inside a place no one can touch. This Christmas I was most grateful for the ability to give happiness and share smiles. It did not go as planned. Is it possible that it went better? It sure did show me that this feeling brought about by this season has little to nothing to do with the influence of the outside world and a whole lot to do with what drives us as individuals. Is it love of material goods...or that special feeling of goodness? I've learned so much this year.

                                                               Peace. Love. Gratitude.

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