Connected Christmas

Yesterday I was driving Ax and his friend Portia to a local beachside restaurant when I overhear Portia say to him, “Do you celebrate Christmas?”Ax: “Yes, we celebrate everything!” Portia, giggling: “Everything?” Ax: “Yes, Christmas, Hanukkah, but not Kwanza so much.”

Later in the evening I relayed this conversation to Mike whose response was, “We need to find out how to celebrate Kwanza.”

I love my little family. And I love that for us a celebration means any time we are all together, being together, feeling connected. Which takes a little more intention but a lot less effort than all kinds of stuff I’ve done to “celebrate” in the past.

Don’t get me wrong, I do love the cookies our friends baked us, and it’s fun to get cards in the mail. Holiday lights of all kinds are beautiful. This year though the joy for me is in not needing any of that to be a celebration.

Yesterday as Ax’s school performed a song at the fire station a new mom friend said, “What are you guys doing tomorrow? Wanna get together?” “Yes,” I said, and then asked if they’d come to our little nest, where we — where I — want and need to be, still reeling from the last weeks’ displacement and discombobulation. “Great! She said, just let us know any time.”

So at some point today, after my meeting and after my Yoga, after we open presents from Mike’s mom and sisters, and after Ax has his chocolate chip waffles even though it’s not a Sunday, after all that we’ll order Chinese and fire up a movie in the living room with new friends who happened to reach out.

It is all lining up to be a perfect Christmas. Thank Godfrey! I’m gonna keep going.

Universe! Please reveal what there is to be revealed. Please heal what there is to be healed. Show me the way of patience, tolerance, kindness, and love, for myself and for others. Thank you very much. Godfrey, please help me be willing to let things be as good as they can be and as good as they are. Thank you for this life.