Friday 21 November 2008

Thoughts on Christmas

It is less than five weeks until Christmas. With no discernible middle ground, I feel as if I have gone from a state of Christmas being too far away to think about, to there being too much to do to be ready in time!
I did my first Christmas shopping this week, thanks to my parents-in-law who had the children for the afternoon. I was a Woman on a Mission. I went with a list of six things, knowing that any more would overwhelm me. From leaving the car to the last ker-ching of the till, I was done in 50 minutes! No dithering, no pondering: I was a present-seeking missile. This compares well with my normal rabbit-in-the-headlights shopping persona!

We are enjoying "Little House on the Prairie" as our current chapter book, and last night Mr Edwards met Santa Claus and brought Laura and Mary's gifts home from Independence.
"They had never even thought of such a thing as having a penny.Think of
having a whole penny for your very own.Think of having a cup and a cake and a
stick of candy and a penny.
There never had been such a Christmas."

I do not think that my children would be overawed by four such small gifts, and I know that I would not. And yet, part of me longs for a Christmas of such joyful simplicity and of such gratitude, for, in Laura's words,
"They were too happy to speak."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That story from Little House is one of my favorites too! Laura Ingalls lived, during that story, within 100 miles from where I grew up, so the description of the weather is exactly what my Christmases were like in NE Oklahoma. What a sweet story!

Congratulations on your shopping! I did a big chunk of mine online and it took me WAY longer than 50 minutes!

Gaynor said...

My brother used to live in Tulsa altough I never got over to visit -the wind does sound crazy!

EnchantedMusing said...

such a sweet story! we are s-l-o-w-l-y getting back to simpler ideas of christmas. minime is enamored with "the borrowers' books and has a 'borrowers' house - so most toy roads point to that(save the current "littlest pet shop" craze). she's not even asking for much for her American girl doll. it's SO nice to pull back and be "simple" again!