It Begins With a Tree.................

As the Christmas music flows through my home and the cinnamon candles flicker sending off the scent of cookies baking I begin to reminiscence of "ALL" the Christmas' gone by. I truly believe, that whatever your faith or calling, that this time of year has such a magic about it that it re-charges everyone's batteries so we can deal with humanity at its best and/or worst! You see it on the faces of young and old as they take a deep breath of the season! Times are more difficult for many of us, more so now than they ever were in the past, but even with that there seems to be a sense of peace in our hearts as nature begins its winter sleep. Often I wonder how I can have so many memories stuffed into this rather small space called my brain....I love to remember the simple things from my own Christmas' as a child...like Dad always using nothing but blue lights on the tree every year and hanging each strand of tinsel individually till the entire tree was engulfed in silver! Or when Santa (snicker) wouldn't use my stocking but instead stuff a once forgotten boot in my closet! I can still smell the crisp evening air as we bundled up to hit the tree lots in Los Angeles for that perfect Noble Fir Dad had to have every year! Then coming home to Mary Martin playing "Peter Pan" on the television and Dad softly cursing in the background as he tried to get the tree into its stand! Once it was decorated I would lie under it and looked up into the magic of wishes and dreams all dressed in silver and blue. Funny how some memories never seem to leave us and often meld into who you become later on....Yep you guess it, I'm a dreamer and a fanciful, imaginative person who still looks for stuffed boots and likes tinsel (duh!)......Everytime we decorate our tree we're able to relive a lot of those Christmas memories with each treasured ornament that comes out of the boxes. The paper cut-outs the kids made in school, the photos glued to stars and candy canes or the toilet paper tube Santa's. Each one is a masterpiece and has survived time with much love. I even have one ornament, a little choir boy, that was my favorite as a child. It may only be a piece of metallic plastic to many but to me it holds that childhood magic that created who I am today. I really chuckle when I pull out this battered little Santa that was purchased 39 years ago for Dan's and my first Christmas together. We had barely enough money for a "Charlie Brown" tree and one ornament....the Santa! That Santa means more to me than all the fanciest and most expensive ornaments out there cause Dan bought it for me with love in his eyes and heart and the silliest grin on his face that I remember like it happened yesterday! Remember: it's what you hold in your heart that is important, not your hands! Merry Christmas and Happy Solstice to All!