to my children
December 25, 2014 § 2 Comments
In the week ahead I will settle our home in anticipation of the year to come, tenderly nestling decorations into safekeeping for another holiday. I cannot imagine the days that will fill the space between this Christmas and next any more than I can tuck this day into yesterday without first holding my finger to my favorite pieces, stretching each moment into tomorrow.
This morning the sweet indulgences of your stockings were quickly forgotten as you rushed to offer one another items crafted, thoughtfully, for each other. Blurry photographs and poor lighting captured these fleeting moments of surprise; sweeping smiles and wide eyes punctuating sleepy enthusiasm. In contrast, the most tender disappointment came briefly and privately in the lines of an apology for wishes ungranted. It is the moment I most wish I could undo in my powerlessness to grant the impossible. Another year of misplaced magic lost in a letter for Santa.
The sweetest moment still came at the most unexpected hour, late on Christmas Eve, in stolen minutes of hushed giggles as you each conspired to play in an unwitting protest of bedtime. I sat on the perimeter of your silliness, peeking from the pages of my book to gather the images of your dimpled nonsense. Despite the angst of your unexceptional daily irritations, there was a tenderness in your company last night that I could not bring myself to interrupt. This will be the Christmas image I hold most tightly in my memories, before the stockings were emptied or the gifts unwrapped.
Smiles stuck to the corners of my thoughts as sleep begs my attention.
Love,
Mom
scribblechic 
Wow! So sweet and beautiful
It was, indeed, a sweet holiday filled with beautiful moments. Thank you!