It is past midnight, officially Christmas Eve. The gifts are bought and wrapped, the holiday food is purchased and ready for the traditional meals; ours include Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Years Day. The family is quietly excited, as excited as a family of 15, 18, and 20 year old kids can get; they're pretty low key. No more suspense wondering if that Furby is going to be under the tree as in the Furby-shortage year (it was), or if any other of the coveted gifts would be found - usually they were. There were a few years when the "magic" of it all got out of hand. "Santa" would write notes about shortages and delays in the workshop, elaborately packaged with future dates for delivery. One year a video camera appeared in the ash of the fireplace one or two days after the kids went back to school - what a miracle! With an apology included! (We'll never order online from them again...) Virtual gifts are our specialty now; our son is getting one this year.
Interestingly, the magic is still here, in far different forms. My son the questioner had a detailed conversation with me yesterday about the life of Jesus Christ and the reality of Christmas. The questioning centered on the date of Christmas rather than the reality of Christ and that He is the son of God - that was a revelation to me, his thoughts! His prior remarks had indicated that Christianity was not something he embraced anymore, but in fact he embraces it and includes those who think differently. Wow! Eighteen does equal maturity in some ways!
There is magic in the expectation of gifts, with a lot of doubt from our kids this year due to our warnings of hand-made gifts because of budget constraints. There are plenty of gifts, many more practical than usual, and one WILL be hand-made. My husband and I constructed a frame for the beautifully and painstakingly drawn horse (colored pencil, superior quality materials - last year's gift from her sister) done by our youngest daughter in the silence of her room when no one knew what she was up to.
She presented this 36" x 36" masterpiece somewhere in June, nonchalant, as if any of us could have done it! If this gifted child does not go into an art/design arena, or an environmental program (her particular concern) that can use her talents therein, she will have missed her calling. My husband and I are pleased to do this for her work, particularly after the $300 estimate from the framers! I hope she is shocked and pleased; I hope she cries; I hope we all cry.
Our oldest, she just wanted one thing - a digital camera. Was it luck or divine intervention that I won one at a realtor event a month ago? Of all of our children, I sometimes think she is the most lost.
"Ignorance is bliss" may have been coined with her in mind. Her intelligence stifles her sometimes, somehow. I hope all confusion will clear up from February to June in Paris, new camera in hand, while studying abroad. Thank you God, you know just what we all need, material and otherwise!
As I write this, Christmas tree in the distance, wearing only its electric bulbs and tree skirt, no ormaments, I wonder how this year got so off track. Then I reread what I wrote above and realize we are not off track, we are evolving. The beads and ormaments will be hung in an hour tomorrow. The Christmases of the past have set the stage for the Christmas of today. We are like the Grinch's Whoville - it is not about the trimmings, the ribbons and bows; it is something more. We have always known that but maybe this is the first year we will celebrate without needing all of that excess. Thank God for change and new birth. Thank God for everything.
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