The Christmas Afterglow

Christmas feels like that time of year when so much of my work blooms. Even though the leaves on our Boston Ivy are falling and the Avocado is very confused about what season we're in, the children are stretching their minds and using their little voices in new ways. They fill my hands with colorful leaves on our walk and say, "Here Mommy-Bird, some pretty leaves to decorate." They squeal with excitement about the chance to stomp in the fuzzy-looking winter rye or the ankle-deep clover, and they race up and down the slopes of our neighbors' front yard.

Everything is a treasure to them: the limes that fell off a neighbors' tree, the junk-mail in the mailbox, a handful of change in their stockings. I was inspired by Laura Ingles Wilder's Little House on the Prairie.

"And in the very toe of each stocking was a shining bright, new penny! They had never even thought of such a thing as having a penny. Think of having a whole penny for your very own. Think of having a cup and a cake and a stick of candy and a penny. There never had been such a Christmas."

Inspired to not rush my children onto bigger and better things. Inspired to fill their miniature stocking with toothpaste and an automatic toothbrush and pennies. And to make them wait all through a candy cane making demonstration and dinner too before allowing them to eat their one individually wrapped candy bought for thirty cents at Logan's Candy shop in Ontario.

It's the thrill of saying yes after days upon days of saying no. Finally, the presents can be unwrapped. Finally the tape can be torn off and the paper crumbled and the box opened, not for the joy of the gift inside really, but the discovery of the hidden. Indeed the gifts that brought the biggest reaction were the used books that I bought off half.com. These were stories from the library that the children knew.

And then there was the treasure hunt for Lee that lead him to his big wheel that we salvaged from the curbside in Friendly Hills. We were delighted to find that some of the buttons on the thing still work. And we were delighted when Lee without prompting handed the big wheel over to Rose to have a go after him.

They are asking for oatmeal for breakfast and tea when the rain falls and a blanket to play with during their quiet times. They think a box filled with sand is the next best thing and balloons and kitty shoes and an inflatable pink bed.

And the best of all are the grandmas and grandpas, uncles and aunts, great-grandmas and great-grandpas and the cousins and friends too, who have built the foundation of love and grace being passed down from generation to generation. Here grows little plants in rich soil.