Tomorrow

Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. ~Mary Ellen Chase

In my previous post I had spoke of what fills me with the feeling of excitement for Christmas approaching – wrapping Michelle’s gifts – but, while the above is true, the state of mind mentioned in the above quotation does not occur until the day is upon me.

Children are filled with the spirit from the day their advent calendars are opened, or at least as the number days open out number those still to be. At some point they begin to count sleeps and become ever easier to manipulate with the perhaps cruel but effective threat that Santa knows if they have been bad or good. Christmas is magical for children, their still developing little brains dazzled by the shiny objects and bright, occasionally blinking, lights. And of course there are all the packages under the tree – “For me?” – For them.

The older your get the more difficult it is to feel the magic. The shiny objects are less fascinating, the bright lights hurt your eyes and blinking ones threaten to send you into some sort of fit, and all those gifts under the tree – “For me?” – No, not for you. You have to struggle through crowds of ignorant humanity and wait in seemingly endless line after line for your gifts. Then there’s the cost - where’s that jolly fat bastard when you really need him?

And then you wake up on Christmas morning. There’s something unquantifiable in the air – everything seems still. There are the one or two gifts under the tree for you and your content with the quantity you receive and love those gifts because you love the one that gave them to you. Everyone is pleasant – you pass people in the street and rather than pass by them you greet them a merry Christmas or at least wish them a good day. The worries of the year nearly past fall away for one day and the day it’s self is a gift for that fact.

Today, Christmas Eve, is stress. Maybe you’re buying the last minute gifts, maybe your wrapping all your gifts, maybe you’re preparing for tomorrow’s dinner or maybe you’re building your kids gifts tonight to be freshly delivered by Santa Claus tomorrow. Tomorrow is calm. Tomorrow is content. Tomorrow is love. Tomorrow is Christmas.

Have a good one.