Hearing the Harps.....

 Like many people, the last few days have had a lot of errands to run, small tasks to manage and gatherings to plan.  We've had a lot of LOUD.  Vigorous car conversation. Loud singing, exclamations of joy and despair, background "All I want for Christmas is YOOOUUUUUUUU" and the like. There's been some pretty loud laughter.

At one point yesterday Bean came out of the bathroom crying: "There's a MONSTER in there." Babygirl's priceless reply? "Well, stop looking in the mirror." 

Many of you are aware that I am a natural introvert.  I need peace and quiet to recharge, one of the reasons I tend to get up early in the morning.  

By noon today I was home, so I made beef stew in the crock-pot for dinner. Then I took a look at our tree, a notable work in progress LOL.  The bin of ornaments has been sitting next to my chair since Thanksgiving, entered into periodically by short people of varied tastes and heights.  The grandkids are occupied upstairs, so I opted for a solitary session of finishing up the tree.

I set my phone to Celtic Harp Music and got to work.

Some music helps bring space into the soul.

We all possess layers and layers of memories.  And there is nothing like a box of ornaments for a good archaeological dig through a lot of years. 

My great-grandmother was a German immigrant, but since the Pickle Ornament was created by American Germans, we never heard of that.  However, no tree was complete without gilded nuts and pinecones, and I have a handful of those cones to remember her by.  

My grandmother loved music, and although the small set of tiny ceramic orchestra ornaments I once had have broken and disappeared, I have replaced them with brass horns and guitars along the way.

My mom loved anything, ANYTHING that would go on a Christmas tree, especially straight silver tinsel hung JUST SO. Any unwanted aging ornaments were donated to us kids to make a festive mess of the upstairs hall with. As her life narrowed with age, her last tree was a tiny thing.  One of the last boxes I opened today yielded me a double handful of tiny glass balls, teddy bears, Santas and rocking horses, the last ornaments she purchased. I don't have a lot of her earlier ones, although I'm betting she glittered up a couple of those pinecones. The ornament Hospice gave her for her last Christmas is there.

My aunt and uncle donated a ton of stuff to me when they closed their store and moved local. Mercifully, I have managed to break most of it. 

My angel was a give from my dad and his wife, an old-fashioned hand-crocheted-and-starched beauty.  Currently Squeaker has given her a candy cane, placed on her shoulder and ready to be thrown javelin-style.

There are the obligatory and much-loved hand made kid ornaments. There is an ornament I hand made in prison to kill time on a visit there to the foster kids' mom. There is one remaining of the Three Little Pigs that Citygirl adored. Lots of coworkers have contributed. There are ornaments from many patients, including one odd little cat-on-a-pillow gifted to me in my first year in practice shortly before the patient died, a heartful of lessons learned.

Some go back to somewhat lonelier seasons when I was away from home and made do with what I had, or celebrated with fellow students and residents. I have one absolutely amazing memory of a full southern Thanksgiving dinner gifted by an attending physician for those of us stuck on call.  And there was one Christmas Eve walking hand in hand with Citygirl's dad through Rockefeller Center and St Patrick's cathedral.

There remains magic in us if we take the time to let the harps play.  My tree is finished, and a different kind of beautiful than it was before I added on.

DeeDee

PS Our recent visit to Rochester was a blessed non-event. All is well. Follow up in MARCH.

Fairy Infestation.....

 Once Upon A Time Citygirl was an only child.  When she was about 4, I bought an Advent Calendar from LL Bean for her. It's lovely, bright colors, with 25 little compartments, about 1.5 x 3 inches. My thought was that I'd put some little trinket in there, and every few days put in a note with an activity to do. For example, the 5th door has a pair of ice skates on it, and I planned to take her ice skating that day.

Best laid plans....

By the time Citygirl opened the third door she was ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that there was a creature called the Advent Calendar Fairy. Well.  I guess the Calendar Fairy could suggest activities also....

Fast forward a few years.  Add a half-a-dozen kids and some foreign exchange students. Not ONCE did anyone suggest that they had never before heard of such an incredibly specialized fairy.  She came every single night for 25 days while everybody was asleep for a very LONG time.  

I think there might have been 1 Fairy Free year.  And there were a couple of years where the Fairy came only on weekends for visiting grandchildren.

Now, Curlygirl's little Bean is living with us (I assure you that I did not select that nickname. Talk to her Gammy!).  Babygirl pulled out the Calendar and set the Fairy back to work.  Today the Fairy left a Barbie toothbrush, likely to offset the damage she will likely create with the candy she frequently leaves.  Squeaker will get things from the Fairy on the weekends he is here as well.

I'm glad Babygirl holds this as such a special childhood memory that she is willing to go Fairy Shopping. I am glad to see, that like I once did, she suddenly awakens after bedtime to run down and help the Fairy so Bean doesn't wake up to an empty little door.    

I'm incredibly grateful that my oldest unintentionally created what has become two generations of believers in that special little being. When I see parents today doing the Elf on the Shelf, I understand why they do it, (even while I send inappropriate memes to the ones of my kids who do it LOL).  We have such a little time to create magic in the little souls entrusted to us.  

So our house has a Nativity, a Calendar Fairy, and Santa.  I've become a believer in all of them.

DeeDee

PS Because this story isn't sweet enough....

Bean sent me a video of herself talking to the world (like she has her own YouTube channel) about the Fairy. She came down the stairs and around the corner to the Barbie toothbrush.  She was incredibly pleased and excited, and told all of us that she was going to leave the Fairy one of her littlest toys so she could play.

Well. I'm speechess and a little teary-eyed.