Waking Up to the Month of December

Flipping the calendar page is an onerous task on a regular, ordinary month. Turning the next page on the calendar and finding the month "December" staring me in the face is daunting.

When I woke up to a new month this morning, I went about my business updating bank books, expense sheets, submitting income reports and tied up the month for my daycare. Then I went to physically turn the page on the calendar and was assaulted by the month "December".

How could this happen so quickly? December = Christmas. Though my Christmas preparations are few, they are time consuming. Have I left myself enough time to do what I want to do before the year's end?

I like to come up with a yearbook as my gift to my daycare families. I haven't even started.

I still send Christmas cards and letters, an age old tradition which (I hope) makes up for my lack of baking, gifts and the Christmas socialization that I tend to avoid. Give me a quiet afternoon with a pen, a bunch of empty cards, a healthy supply of stamps and an endless supply of coffee over a Christmas party or gathering any day of the year.

In the past, I've tried to come up with a personalized gift for my children but they aren't quite at the place in their lives where they appreciate my efforts so that has gone by the wayside.

My idea well has run dry and my personalized gifts to others have dwindled down to next to nothing. I'm starting to feel like a shrivelled up old prune as time goes by. In giving less, I feel less motivated and the well runs even drier.

The more I "create", the more creative I become. The more I give, more I have to give.  Walking into a department store and spending money on things that no one really wants or needs is not where the "giving" is at for me. It is in the things that money cannot buy where my truest spirit of giving lies.

I used to feel more creative and "Christmasy" once upon a lifetime ago. Now I utilize the Christmas season as an excuse to push me into what I should be doing all along. Keeping in touch with family and friends and an annual recap of events for my daycare families.

I hope I have left enough white space on my December calendar so I can hang up a few strings of white lights and let the words flow. So far, so good. Maybe I should string up a strand of those white lights tonight to start me on my way to create a little of the light and peace which soothes my soul and spurs me into action. If I don't nourish that which feeds my soul, I will continue to dry up and could end up like that wrinkled old prune (literally and figuratively) sooner than I think. I hope it's not too late...