Smells like Christmas

Here is my guy serving up one of our delicious company meals he has cooked. It is a cornucopia of wonderfully tasty food we have grown and cooked. In this week to come we will host another meal and our friends will burst in on cool breezes carrying additions to the meal and suddenly the air will be full of loud and loving talk and catching up and a lot of laughter. Peter will bring his signature chocolate cookies, others will come with armloads of fish and ham and we'll have greens from the garden. Our grandson, Quincy will run around, happy with the many Christmas presents he received.

I love this season, second only to Thanksgiving. Christmas is not very stressful to me because I do not decorate much or obsess about wrapping the few material gifts I give. I am so grateful for the wonderful family and gifts I have.

What I do obsess about is the expectations we all have. Today I went into our small town to volunteer as an art instigator for a group of twenty orphans, in age from nine to seventeen, from the Baptist Children's home in Lakeland. These kids were here in our town for a wonderful day. First, they went into a local bank lobby where there was a Christmas tree and gifts for every child, provided by local businesses and families. It was hard to tell who the guests were but I could certainly see that there were many photographers and P R people there. All proud to be the sponsors of Orphans at Christmas. The kids pretty much ignored them, but I could not help thinking that these kids were used to being poster kids for the needy at Christmas. (Other times of the year we conveniently do not think about them.)

After the gift distribution, the kids walked down to the art gallery where we had a hands on art activity. I had brought many skeins of yarn, craft sticks and all the rest so that these kids could make (and take) god's eyes. Many of the kids really took to this activity and made professional looking works of art. Those huge male teen agers really got into it, quickly learned the moves and helped the other younger kids. Time passed in a flash and when they needed to move on to their next activity they wanted more. So I filled their arms with many balls of yarn, the left over craft sticks and their brains full of how to do it. I think after this day they will most remember that they learned how to make something beautiful.

And I really do know that what these children want most is to have their very own loving family. It kills me.

I guess it's kid by kid that will save the world. And if you think you are doing it, be quiet about it. We don't need P R and plaques, hand shakes in front of audiences. It is enough to just do it. After Christmas, maybe into March, let's see what those orphans need. Maybe not a fake Christmas tree in a bank lobby surrounded by plastic gifts from China. Maybe they could use and love a few days in the country and learn to ride a horse or plant a garden or look at the night stars and be with a real family. And be treasured. It would be harder, uncomfortable, but worth it.

So much better than candy canes!

Christmas is a gift. Think carefully about this.

Happy Christmas to all.