Archive for the ‘think about it’ Category

My son is now 9.  For the last few weeks he has been coming home with stories…. “Joshua says there’s no Santa Claus.  He says it’s his mom and dad.  He even found his gifts last year…. before Christmas!”

“But we’ve seen the real Santa, right?  At Cabelas?  I mean there aren’t any real people with a real beard and rosy cheeks like he’s got, are there?  He must be the real Santa.”

When I hear his doubts, I wish there was someone wise I could refer him to like Virginia’s father did over 100 years ago.  I know we’ve all read the story of Virginia, but I was delighted when I recently read it again.  The newsman’s response conveys my sentiments so beautifully.

Eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897.

“DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
“Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
“Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
“Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

“VIRGINIA O’HANLON.
“115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.”

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

If you you’d like to read a poignant story of my friend Janessa’s experience with her daughter and the tooth fairy… click here.  I cried when I read it… I really shouldn’t admit that, but it was just so sweet and close to home.

There are lots of ways to express gratitude.  But I sometimes I need an exercise, something visual, to help me really think about the things that matter to me most.

The answer this year was a Gratitude Tree.

It all started with a need to prune my Contorted Filbert Tree.  It was blocking the pathway next to our home.  Yay, I thought.  That’s one of the reasons I bought the tree almost 7 years ago, so one day it would need to be pruned, and I could bring the limbs in the house to decorate with.

I cut down the crooked limbs, removed the leaves from the branches.  And placed them in my favorite copper flower bucket.

These lovely branches were just perfect to create a Gratitude Tree.

Since Ben and I were home alone, he and I stamped some paper with leaf stamps and cut them out.  And began to write some of the things we are grateful for.  He wrote his family and our dog, Finn.  He is also grateful for his best friend Connor, his teacher Mrs. Pope, video games and Harry Potter books.

I, of course, am most grateful for my family.  My friends, good health, my home and food in my pantry are also at the top of my list.  But I found myself thinking about other things.  The little things (relatively)…  my sewing machine, warm showers, bread just out of the oven, Sunday mornings, and felted wool slippers to name a few.  I realized I could simply cover those branches in gratitude.

Who knew pruning trees could be so good for the soul?

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Snowman Hat update…. it took me long enough, but I have directions for making the snowman hat.  I’ve posted it with the snowman kit tutorial if you’re interested.