We Need A Little Christmas Right This Very Minute

It is interesting to me how holidays have changed during each stage of my life, especially in my celebration of Christmas. As a young girl, the excited anticipation of leaving milk and cookies out for Santa and the wonderment of Christmas morning was so thrilling. I remember the pure happiness of trying out my new roller skates or the bike with training wheels after all the presents had been revealed and spread over the living room floor. During my school-aged years, singing in the church choir, I found great joy in the Christmas music that filled the air accompanied by the beautiful lights and sweet scents of the season. Fresh trees, candy canes and hot chocolate ­­– I can still feel those warm memories.

As a parent, the holidays became more about making my family happy with good food to eat, generous gift-giving and waking a bit earlier than I wanted to on Christmas morning after a late night of getting ready for the big day. I always made the kids wait until the coffee was ready and relished the looks on their faces as they discovered what Santa had brought them.

And now these last two years, after losing a child and surviving a pandemic, I have come to appreciate, more than ever, the importance of spending precious time with loved ones. I am ready to embrace this holiday season in a big way. I am so excited to usher it all in – the sights, smells, music and laughter and to wash away the sadness and tears.

I have never been one of those people who put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. I actually made fun of those people who couldn’t seem to contain their holiday excitement enough to wait for the calendar. In fact, it’s far more common for me to start decorating mid-December and to finish on the 23^rd, adding a little bit at a time, or to throw everything together on the 24^th and call it a day. But not this year.

By the beginning of November, I had already planned on decorating and shopping early when I received a sale paper in the mail, advertising 9.5-foot inflatable, animated Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaurs wearing Santa hats and munching on bright red packages and 7-foot inflatable Christmas trees. Count me in! I bought three of each.

I went to work this week, hanging the old-fashioned C9 lights from the roof, covering the bushes with colorful mini-lights and setting up my dino vignettes around the yard, one of which lives in our trampoline. Big, bold, over-the-top, ridiculous – yes! But just what I needed to feel alive again and remember the delight of Christmases past. I hope, too, that the fun display will bring a few smiles from visitors and neighbors passing by.

By Thanksgiving Day, I had already completed half of my holiday shopping, too! We sat down to a delicious homecooked meal with all the trimmings then took our family photo for the Christmas card (with the dinosaurs, of course). We celebrated together, most grateful for all the blessings of health and happiness. The feelings of that day will live on in me and I look forward to more of the same as we move through December into the New Year. I pray that 2022 will be the year that brings calm and peace to our world. It is so needed now.

No matter what holiday you celebrate this season or how you observe your family’s traditions, I encourage you to give it your all and not hold back. It’s time to let some joy in, spread some love around and find our happy places. Collectively, we can raise our good vibrations and maybe, just maybe, feel the magic of the season bring us back together again.

Susan Bolan
susanbolan710@gmail.com