Ipuna Black

Christmas should be a time of year full of inspiration, giving, and love. Everyone should be “holly jolly” just like Buddy.

Hmm. It isn’t always this way…at least in my family. My family (4 kids + dad) starts by wanting to help hang lights, listen to Christmas music, and drink hot chocolate.

Then, after just a few minutes, I don’t know what happens (maybe this is only in my house), but each child and their father start disappearing like the sun does when the moon shines at night. This picture perfect night begins to disintegrate with the “holly jolly” feeling that was once felt within me. I’m left figuring out how to piece together a stupid deer that I bought on sale last year after Christmas. It’s crunched in a box and came in four pieces. I just want it to stand and light up. After an hour of fiddling with it, I’m content that it looks like a deer. It lights up but won’t stand. My patience is gone, along with my help. The dear would have to be held up by one of my bushes. It wasn’t so bad. Maybe no one would notice. On to the lights outside.

As I’m standing outside, I notice that each bedroom light turns off one at a time. Really? Is all this time really worth lights? But I’m already outside. I must push forward. I start to hang lights along my courtyard patio wall. They won’t stay. It’s getting late, I’m tired. What was the quick way out of this? I sag the lights back and forth on the wall so that the weight from each side holds the lights over the wall. I cross my fingers that it doesn’t get too windy. Once I’m done fiddling with a few more things, I finally plug in the main cord to turn on all the lights. A success! I go to bed after everyone is soundly sleeping. As I lay there, I toss and turn thinking about the time it will take to take the decorations down, buy all the Christmas gifts, and wrap them all. Where is the inspiration, giving, and love? It all seems like work to me.

A new day brings a new attitude. My almost two-year-old wakes up and the first thing she sees is our pathetic looking Christmas tree (the older kids did hang around to decorate it…at least they had fun with that).

Her eyes are filled with delight as she says, “Wow!” The children join in by examining every little Christmas decoration.

Then, the Christmas cards start coming in, and it reminds me of the many people who love our family and who we love. The children get a vacation from school, and we get to spend a lot of time together escaping Las Vegas to go find some snow.

We give gifts to our close friends and family members to show our love, but we also try to serve and give to those who are in need. We don’t need any kind of gratitude in return, just knowing that hopefully, everyone received some kind of Christmas (those who celebrate it) is gratifying in itself.

So although Christmas is coming…

everyday will not be filled with inspiration, giving, and love.

It’s not all about the presents (or the lights & decorations…although, the kids love that part of it)…

or what you get.

It’s about who you are with and what you choose to do with them. It’s about looking for opportunities to help others (even a friendly smile can go a long ways). It’s about being grateful for what you have and letting love shine through your actions. You never know what the person next to you is going through.