The wonder of Christmas through the eyes of a child!
By Sandra Post | 4th December 2007
We’re in a huge home-improvement store where folks looking to improve or add on to a home find endless supplies and items. To the creative soul, such merchandise conjures up all sorts of imaginative floor plans. To the non-visionary, it’s not a very interesting place to visit. We’re simply tag-alongs, waiting for our shopping companions to finish. We walk up and down the aisles, while I chatter incessantly so she doesn’t get fussy. It’s not easy entertaining a 20-month old in a place where lumber and construction materials reign supreme.
It’s still weeks before the holiday season “officially” begins even though no one is quite sure any longer when it does begin. But in our trek throughout the store, we spot holiday decorations. There’s nothing lavish about them, but to her, they are an absolute wonder. She is enthralled over the bear that jumps up and down, the reindeer that sings, and the musical Christmas trees. Quite honestly it all looks somewhat tacky to me, but her eyes are less discriminating. She laughs loudly and repeatedly while customers smile broadly as they watch her.
The familiar refrain of seeing the wonder of Christmas through the eyes of a child runs through my mind. I’m grateful to be in this large store with my granddaughter, Lili, and to see, really see the absolute wonder and joy of the season. It’s certainly true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and so is appreciation for what we perceive as lovely and attractive. To me the decorations are uneventful. To her, they represent what we strive for every Christmas season with our shopping and decorating.
A few weeks later, still a bit before “the season” is in full swing, I visit a large store’s toy department. I’m looking for accessories suitable for Lili and Emma, my older granddaughter by five weeks. They both like playing babies and they need bottles and dishes and blankets for their baby dolls. Shopping for them is pure pleasure. Their toys are affordable, no assembly required, and the kind that are familiar to grandmas. No batteries or directions are necessary. Just an imagination and creative role-playing can transform the simplest toys into a magic world of pretend. Besides, grandmas love buying dolls! I can remember playing with dolls and I remember buying them for my own daughters.
Gift buying and giving often present dilemmas each year. While I’m not convinced that Christmas presents should be only for children, I do believe that innocence and reduced expectations have a huge impact on the gift giver and recipient. Sometimes it seems as though we’ve veered far away from the original intent of giving gifts. They are meant to be given with generosity and thoughtfulness and received with appreciation and a similar measure of thoughtfulness. Anything less simply devalues the meaning of gift giving at Christmas and any time throughout the year.
Christmas with all its commercialism, religious significance, festivities, and certain frustrations is truly a celebration for the young at heart. It requires believing that the world can be transformed by goodness and love even when such a belief surpasses our understanding. And it invites us to share peace and good will generously with others not just at Christmas but throughout each day of the year.