We celebrated our first Christmas in our new home and it was wonderful. To have my husband, children, son-in-law and grandchildren all under one roof was the best present I could ask for! There's no gift you can buy that tops the warmth in your heart as you watch the ones you love laughing and enjoying each other. Those memories will be with us forever. Christmas is a time of reflection as well. As I look at the ornaments on our tree, I am reminded of past Christmases and the many dear friends and their gifted ornaments. Many of those friends are no longer with us but they're remembered every year as we decorate our tree. This sweet Santa ornament, made of cotton batting, is one of my very special ornaments. It wasn't given to me as a gift, rather it was discovered it in a box of treasures I'd bid on at auction many years ago. We'd bought several items that day and it wasn't until near the end of the auction that I found out the name of the person whose possessions we were bidding on. They belonged to a very lovely woman named Carol. She was an interior decorator who I'd met through work. We'd chat over the years and then she stopped coming. What I never knew is she'd had a stroke, a bad stroke. She was in a nursing home, unable to speak and her life was changed forever. Her mother was auctioning her possessions, and many of her treasures. When I opened the box I found this Santa tucked under layers of yellowed tissue paper with a note pinned to his chest which read, "Santa Claus...made in second grade." Every year I think of Carol as I gingerly place her ornament in a special spot on our tree and it reminds me to enjoy every minute of every day.
I wish you and your families a magical, memorable holiday.
