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Lazy snowflakes and chocolate chip pancakes, Remember Whens and In a Bit. I will remember this holiday for the bounty of time, unhurried meals over our new dining table and lazy afternoons near the fire.

This  morning I sat with my coffee and noted a few certainties for Christmases to come, least I forget the simplicity of your joy:

Neither of you numbered your wishes, no one tallied the boxes between you or calculated the cost to measure fairness. It was enough to feel appreciated with simple gifts that honored deeply ingrained interests; art tools and science equipment, toys you build and forgotten requests.

Stockings were pilfered for sugar without any interest in non-edible spoils; even then, chocolates were stowed away for a time soon forgotten. Between you there were some sweet similarities without any confectionary comparisons.

Given the choice between gifting and receiving, you were as eager to witness joy as experience your own. In fact, there was as much pleasure in crafting tags and tying simple bows as there was in discovering what surprises were buried beneath the wrapping.

In matters of menus, you were more interested in visiting over a meal than the formalities of traditional staples. Similarly you were just as happy to bake a single batch of cookies across days of spontaneous cravings, than to stock the pantry with multiple choices in advance.

By day’s end you have played with new toys, but gravitated predictably toward old favorites; savoring the unstructured freedom of a holiday from routine as much as the novelty of new indulgences. Traded laughter and curled into quiet contentment.

It has been a season of peace, simple traditions and fewer wants; bountiful joy in thoughtful gifts without a single complaint in the confetti of wrapping that littered the floor. For my part, I’ll hold dear for years to come the gentleness of this day and the fleeting magic of your gratitude in less.

Love, Mom

Tagged: Christmas, Musings