Wonder and Light

There is no other time of year that I feel so childlike as in the dark days of December; by this I mean filled with wonder and joy. The fresh blanket of snow and bright blue skies, strike me as an invitation to rejoice in the beauty of winter. I experience moments of reflection alternating with ones of caroling and revelry. Overall the feeling is one of anticipating wholeheartedly what is to come. The joy of giving consumes me and I want to share the spirit with everyone I meet. I know that our journey into the darkness will end on December 21st when the light begins its return a little bit each day. I also know that the image of the light returning in the form of a child is not one that everyone shares but working with young children, I find it easy to picture a baby as the symbol of light, of hope, of birth. During this season, I remember holidays from my past in particular when I was young and when my children were young. Decorations, stories, pictures and songs resurface each year and my heart warms to embrace them. In my home, we make cookies using my German mother-in-law's recipes. Then we put them in bags to distribute to friends and family. Before our extended family celebration, we go on a cookie run and leave little sweet sacks at homes. If we are lucky (and this is Buffalo, so we often are), we run into people on the street. Then we stop the car and hand them a bag of cookies and a warm holiday hug. One year while making our holiday rounds, we saw someone we knew and so we stopped and shared. He explained that it was a lonely time for him after a separation and we really made his day, perhaps his holiday. You can imagine the joy this experience gave all of us. Giving is truly a joy; it blesses the giver every time! All year long we know that the possibility of love lives in each of our hearts but we get busy, sometimes too busy to remember what is truly important. How wonderful that we receive an annual reminder to strengthen our heart forces. This leaves us fortified to go forward into the new year with a bigger, stronger heart and sweet memories that last a lifetime.