The Experiment: Day 71 ~ I Think We All Just Need A Little Love This Time Of Year…

One of the things that really makes it Christmas for me is the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. I have watched it since I was in gradeschool and I’m 63 years old! I think there is more gentle wisdom in this movie than any other Christmas movie, and I think it speaks to us all. And you know what? I think we are ALL like that little Christmas tree (I adore it and have had many little Charlie Brown trees in my day…) Most of us don’t feel like we are enough, we all need some propping up, and some love, and if we can give and receive love to and from those around us we will be just fine. It never was such a bad little tree, and neither are we. This little movie gives me hope and heart and we so desperately need the message of what Christmas really is all about, and how it’s the simple little things that matter the most.

And when you see these kids you KNOW the holiday season is upon us. This just makes me smile with glee…

I’ve always loved the little guy up front in the orange shirt whose shoulders hunch all up! There is such an innocence and a sweetness watching these children dance, it just makes me happy. What makes you happy at Christmas? What are the simple things that you have always loved that you do every year? I am working at getting my shopping done over the next few days so I can spend the rest of December watching favorite Christmas movies that I’ve watched many times over, and I am like a giddy little girl when I’m out and about and get to see the Christmas lights. One thing I’ve noticed that makes me sad is that it used to be that nearly EVERYBODY put up Christmas lights, and there were whole neighborhoods where cars were just lined up driving slowly through because every house was lit up to beat the band and there were moving things in the front yard and their front windows were decorated like the big department store windows used to be when I was  young. And here in Wilmington, NC we have the most beautiful downtown historic district and the houses used to be all lit up. It was fun to just drive through the neighborhoods to see the lights. They are few and far between now, there are no neighborhoods all decorated up anymore that I know of, and as you drive down streets only the odd houses have lights. It makes me really sad.

A couple of years ago I picked a dear friend up, we drove through and got hot chocolates and then set out to drive around town to look at the Christmas lights. We were just brokenhearted. We drove around and around and all over different parts of town and there just weren’t many lights anywhere. What has happened to people? People are all caught up in the over-commercialization of Christmas, spend ungodly amounts of money and put unseemly amounts of money on credit cards it will take them months to pay off for expensive things that will be forgotten all too soon unless it’s another electronic device for kids to get addicted to. What happened to the lit up neighborhoods and people decorating their houses for Christmas? Where did they go?

I myself had a disappointment this year because I had purchased 4 boxes of blue lights for my front porch and I thought it would be enough. Well, they wouldn’t have been half enough, and I couldn’t afford to go buy more. I will have to return the ones I bought to the Dollar Store, BUT I did get a grand 24″ big fluffy green wreath for my front door at a very good price that just sparkles with gorgeous colored lights. I put it up last night and it just tickled me all to pieces, it looked fabulous! And it has a timer and you can set it for how long you want the lights on. I set it for 8 hours so it will be lit up and blinking from 4 p.m. until midnight. That wreath makes me so happy.

As I’ve said in our family we have decided to do a Christmas gift exchange with all the adults. We each give and receive one gift, and we all buy things for the grandchildren. I have shopped for my gift exchange recipient — I’m so excited! — and I’ve shopped for the littlest baby, 18 months old, and I’ve gotten one gift for the 3 year old but need to get another little something and then I just have the 5 year old and the 13 year old to shop for. I want to have it all done soon, and I will wrap the gifts and put them under my little Christmas tree, back here in the studio, and I love the sight of the tree with sparkling lights and wrapped packages underneath. My two kids and their families who live out of town will be in Christmas Day and I am looking so forward to seeing them all. I just cherish seeing my children all together and watching the grands open their gifts just makes Christmas. When I was little I wanted LOTS of presents, as children do, but now I bring home my one special gift and I just treasure it and feel so richly blessed as surely I am.

Today I am going to a movie at 4:20 with Rachel, we are going to see the movie “Lady Bird” which she really wanted to see and it sounds fun to me. It will do me good to get out a little and I always love being with Rachel. She was here last night to visit and we watched “our show” which we LOVE! “This Is Us.” We watch it on Hulu the day after it airs because I don’t have cable tv anymore, and I don’t think we ever get through an episode without crying! I think it’s the best show that’s been on tv in a very long time.

So here we all are at the beginning of December and the countdown to Christmas has begun. What are you doing the next few weeks dear ones? I’d really love to know. What are your traditions, what do you cook, how do you handle gift giving? Lordie I remember the years I used to send over 100 Christmas cards every year, I miss that really, but I’ve longsince stopped doing that as have most people, and when I was young and when I was a newlywed we used to bake dozens and dozens of Christmas cookies and take the round Christmas tins full of cookies to family and friends. I miss that too, it’s been a very long time since I’ve done that. I don’t think any cookies ever taste as good as homemade Christmas cookies! I no longer eat sugar so there will be no Christmas cookies or treats this year, but I’ll tell you what, the Christmas cookies in my memories were the best of all anyway.

I really would love to hear from you dear ones, leave me a comment below and I will answer you (sometimes it’s the next day but I always answer!), let me know how you are preserving the simple joys of Christmas, what is most meaningful to you, how you spread love and Christmas joy to others, and I’d love to hear about those dear Christmas memories, those things that live on in your memories and in your heart even though they don’t exist anymore. Those memories make me feel so nostalgic, they warm my heart.

And will you be watching A Charlie Brown Christmas with me this year? I never miss it…

Best and Blessings to you. Happy Holidays Dear Ones…

 


The Experiment ~A 365 Day Search For Truth, Beauty &
Happiness: 
Day 1 ~ Introduction To The Project
“Do or do not. There is no try.”
Yoda

Comments

  1. Oh Maitri, Charlie Brown is at the top of my list, too! Despite all the times that lie (or Lucy) try to knock him down, ultimately, he does get up! A good role model for us all! And little Linus, he’s so sweetly innocent & gets at the heart of what Christmas is all about. One of the neighborhood kids when I was growing up carried a ratty old blanket, to dry off his thumb! Linus always makes me think of him (he’s a grandpa himself now).
    This year, for my oldest grand nephew & his sister, I’m giving them gifts that have meant something to me. Liam is getting one of my late husband’s Dragon figures. He collected them & I’ve found out that Liam loves dragons! Charlotte loves journaling (as do her mom & I) so I’m giving her a blank journal from the many I’ve collected over the years, along with some pretty pens. I’ve always loved to give gifts with special meaning, because to me, those come from the heart!

    • Susan, I loved hearing from you, YES! to Charlie Brown, Linus and the rest, and I love the gifts you are giving your family honey, so special, they will always be remembered. I hope you have a lovely holiday season and a good Christmas. Best and blessings to you honey…

  2. I started Christmas decorating with mini lights from the dollar store inside the apartment and a lighted garland on my balcony rail outside. This week I also bought a large tube of plastic ornament balls and an artificial pine garland inexpensively. The ornaments came with little gold threads and I tied all of them (about 50) one by one onto the garland to make a swag which I have hung from planter hooks on my balcony ceiling. Tomorrow I will pick up a timer for the balcony lights so we don’t have to go out in the cold at night to turn them on.

    My Christmas shopping is almost done. I like to get suggestions from my family for their main gifts and then get them small surprise treats for their stockings. I’m still waiting for an idea or two from one son. Then, on to the wrapping. I mainly use gift bags with tissue but I do like to wrap the little stocking treats in Christmas paper. Another tradition we have is to put a Christmas theme Bingo scratch and win card in each stocking. The kids have come to look forward to it and it’s fun to see who wins something.

    This year I will bake two kinds of cookies for my husband and our sons – cranberry pecan shortbread cookies and ginger bread cookies. I have already made a healthy chocolate square that has cranberries and nuts in it and is like a fudge. I will also be making whisky truffles for my oldest son as he is a fan of whisky. For myself I am going to see if I can keto adapt an almond thumb print cookie that I made last year.

    I bought myself a few Kindle Christmas theme books when they were on sale for 1.99 and I will enjoy reading those in my relaxing time during the season.

    • Oh Joan I loved reading all about your decorating, and I can just smell the cookies baking! And ah the delights of wrapping. I make a big deal out of it, not that I have a lot of gifts to wrap, mainly the grandchildren, but I do it at my computer table so I can watch the Celtic Women Christmas special when I wrap. I used to have a festive drink with it so I don’t know what I’ll do about that this year, I haven’t had any wine in two months. And oh, I love Christmas stories, how lovely! When I was a young married woman I used to love to get the women’s magazines at the grocery store like Family Circle and Woman’s Day because they had lots of wonderful Christmas stories in them. I love Christmas stories.

      Enjoy all your decorating and shopping and wrapping and baking, it made me happy just to read all you wrote. Happy holidays honey, love and blessings to you… 🙂

  3. Love A Charlie Brown Christmas for all the reasons you mention. I will be 60 and I watched it every year too. Still do if I catch it on one of the channels. Christmas memories for me – my mother was Martha Stewart at Christmas, our entire main floor was decorated and we had the grand oak stair railing and archways between rooms with oak pillars, and a fireplace. She made it a show place every year and somehow did it on a dime! But our tree NEVER went up until Christmas Eve (mostly because my father was Serbian Orthadox so we left our up until that observance in January). However, mom told us it was because Santa decorated our tree. She put it up in the stand in the afternoon, cutting extra branched from the foot or so that always had to be trimmed from the bottom. These she would insert into the bare spots by drilling a hole in the trunk and snugging the branch into it. The house was redolent with the scent of pine. We would go to bed with that bare tree, in the corner created by the oak railing, decorated with swags and garland and lights. In the morning, when we came down those stairs, it was like walking into wonderland at Christmas. Her trees were magnificent and all the presents (for a family of six) were wrapped like they came from a professional service. She hand the knack. It wasn’t until I was eight or so (me being the baby), that I realized there was no Santa and it was my poor, selfless mother that was staying up until almost dawn to decorate that tree and wrap all those presents . . . just so that we would have a sight on Christmas morning.

    • Oh Judith! How absolutely magical! I LOVED reading this, it kind of made me get teary. I could just see your dear mother busily decorating that amazing tree and wrapping those gifts while her little ones slept. What a wonderful mother she was. Have you carried any of her traditions forward into your own life? I’d love to know! Warm blessings to you honey and I hope there is still magic and delight on Christmas for you, even if you create it yourself…

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