Our “Christmas Eve Gift”

Dear Santa,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am sending it with a lot of gratitude in my heart. Today, your busiest work day, I thought it would be nice to give you a little something; my appreciation. I want to let you know how much I appreciated your answers to last years Christmas Letter.

I am not sure if you remember what it was I wished for, but last year I asked you for time – more time, and boy did you deliver. For starters, I got to spend more time with my man. And as we never know what will happen in the next second, minute, or hour, I am learning to make precious memories, even if it is raking leaves. With that said, you must know that we accomplished a little cleanup and decluttering, and although we have much to do, I am being thankful for what we did get done. You gave us time to make some much needed repairs on everything from the home, to the autos, to the property, and you further gave us a little break time to spend with my husbands siblings, the significant others, and friends.

As for my family and me, you cannot possibly imagine what the impact of the weeks I got to spend with my siblings, nieces, nephews, and old friends did for me. The fun, love, and laughter that occur when we are together brings my soul to new heights. So thank you again, and again, and again for that time. You gave me time to write my blog posts, to work on my book, and to be creative, and you know I love all that. You gave me time to learn new things and connect to new people, and had me realize that every new thing I learn is a new opportunity. There are far too many things I can thank you for, too many for this letter for sure, so I will end my gratitude with these two things: time you gave me to search for employment. I may not have found anything yet, but I remain hopeful for the right thing to be brought into my life. Lastly, for the realization that time is an illusion and I choose what to do in increments in the now. Let me find ways to begin to choose wisely.

I was going to include in this letter my wish for this coming year, but you must already know what that is, as it has already begun today. My Christmas wish for this year was to have more fun, to live with childlike abandonment. My day started off in that direction for sure, as I got to defeat my first opponent right out of the gate. I wonder if you, Mrs Claus, and the Elves play the same game. My husband says the farmers used to play. Because money was tight, they would try to sneak up on their neighbors and say what they needed to say. Whoever won, got a pie, a casserole, some produce perhaps, or maybe just an extra hand for a few hours of work. Today we play for bragging rights. But, I wonder should we keep from giving unnecessary stuff and go back to the way the farmers played. Time maybe will tell that.

As I close my letter Santa, I thought I would leave something for everyone; information about the game we play. We call it “The Christmas Eve Gift” and it goes like this:

                       CHRISTMAS EVE GIFT

The clock has struck the midnight hour
The second hand ticks away
Taking us to 12:01 am
Of the day before Christmas morn
With everyone acting peculiarly 
As if they have something to say

From this point on, until the midnight hour
When Christmas Eve slips away
The phones will ring, and anything goes
In a game we all love to play

The players have changed over the course of the years
But the game remains the same
The quickest one, is who everyone fears
So try to get me first
Before I win the game

The funny thing is there are no rules
Or object to this game
Bragging rights is what you win
If you are the first to say:

"CHRISTMAS EVE GIFT"

By:
Laura Standrowicz
Copyright: December 2004

With a generous and appreciate heart, I wish you much luck and a whole lot of love to take with you around the world. Merry Christmas Santa ~ “Christmas Eve Gift”… Love You, Laura