I Love the Anticipation

Today is the day of Christmas as far as I am concerned.

The gifts are all wrapped and tucked under the tree and the kids can’t stand not knowing what is in there. They’ve been waiting all month. Tonight it’s as if they are going to burst. My 12 year old son who already knows the Christmas secret has now moved on to trying to figure out how to make time go faster so he can wake up and it’ll be tomorrow.

Tomorrow at this time, my son will be assembling a LEGO VW bus and my daughter will be dancing in her room with her Lagoona Blue Hydration Station- quietly because she’s also getting headphones. By Monday morning the gifts will be squirreled away and half eaten candy on my coffee table will be the only remnant of the month that was.

I’ll admit, the 26^th the hype even feels stale to me. I don’t light up the tree anymore. Christmas music still plays but it feels like the skin on pudding left in the fridge- you have to pull back the skin of time to get back to the joy.

Right now anything is possible. I gave up trying to guess what is in my packages a long time ago. It could be a Hershey’s kiss or a hundred dollars. Right now it feels the same to me. My husband has a box wrapped for me that is too big to be the Toshiba Thrive 32gig tablet I want and considering that tuition is due, I seriously doubt it is. But right now it could be. I am savoring that little hint of hope. I know that when I pull the wrapping off and find the rice cooker I have been eyeing or some similar item that will bring slightly less joy (and functionality) of the tablet I will eventually have anyway, that hint of hope goes into the fireplace along with the wrapping paper. Of note, the paper says Ho Ho Ho, or, if turned the other way, oH oH oH.

After I post this blog, I will go downstairs and plug the tree lights directly into the wall, bypassing the timer that has meted out the magic current that set them twinkling this past month. The entire day is twinkling. The lights might just work on their own if I let them. We will play music off of our sky.fm Christmas station until 8 when It’s a Wonderful Life comes on NBC. Then my husband and I will eat bacon wrapped steaks and baked potato. It’s a gluttonous tradition, and I can’t wait to take the first bite!

Today is about promise. Even if you aren’t Christian, you can appreciate the celebration of anticipation. A baby allows you to expect something, even if s/he doesn’t grow up to be the Messiah. My kids are far from Messianic but I am enjoying watching the process of them growing into the people they will be. Anything can happen and along the way better grades in science and math or extreme creativity lend hints to the end result, much like weeks of internet history searches. (God help me when my son realizes he can track where I’ve been shopping with a couple clicks of a mouse. I need the history, but I suppose I’ll have to up my game. I’m used to it.)

So enjoy today. Appreciate the coming of new, be it presents, a baby, a Messiah, or a New Year. There is so much promise in tonight. Take time to enjoy the twinkling of it.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

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