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The Magic of the Season is All Around |
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2006-12
We have all heard the expression, 'when life hands you a lemon, make lemonade'. That is what psychologists call 'reframing'. You take a challenging situation and look at from a different point of view. Your grandmother and mine would likely have thought of it as just being practical, and making do with what you had instead of wishing for what you didn't have. With that in mind we have decided to reframe 'cold and snow' into 'hot chocolate and shortbread cookies'. See how easy that was?
Once you get started with this game you begin to see examples everywhere. People who are depressed by the early darkness and the long nights get busy and string up their Christmas lights and drive the darkness away. Of course, the lights that they string up don't only cheer them, they add warmth and brightness to their entire neighborhood. It doesn't matter if they are lighting up a suburban street or a city apartment balcony, once one home owner starts the others soon follow and before you know it people are looking forward to sunset so they can plug in their lights. Then one house will add a Santa Clause or a reindeer and the friendly competition starts to see whose house is the brightest and the most fun to look at. Fathers are up on ladders adding lights to the chimney or plywood figures to the peak of the roof - even though last year they swore they would never do that again - and mom holds the ladder while calling up encouragement, 'a little to the left, dear. Just a few more strings to go!'
If the man of the house becomes suspicious that there seem to be more lights this year than he remembers, he is likely right. Once the January sales begin boxes and boxes are quietly bought and carefully hidden away until they can be unwrapped and mixed in with the old lights, so as to avoid detection. However, once the decorating is finished and the proud homeowners step back to admire the effect, they never, ever say 'there are too many'.
Then the snow falls and all those coloured lights are magnified and reflected into the darkness and who would want to be anywhere else when the magic of the season begins?
The same magic brings out the thousands of volunteers who step forward to do the bake sales, cook and serve the Christmas lunches and dinners, drive folks to and from their winter appointments, supervise the kettles for the Salvation Army, and much, much more! Just like Santa's elves, they appear out of nowhere, get the job done, and then disappear again until next year.
Then there are those whose talents warm us with their voices and their music. The good people who spend hours and hours rehearsing The Messiah or The Nutcracker or the Christmas carols so that the whole valley rings with the music of the season. No matter where you live in the Thompson/Okanagan your community will be offering special holiday programs, and often drivers will be available to fetch folks who would otherwise miss out. Many choirs make the rounds of the larger retirement homes ensuring that everyone who enjoys the traditional Christmas carols gets the chance to hear them in comfort.
Santa's elves are not all adults, of course. Many of the best ones are very young indeed. As our article on the magical Christmas shoe boxes shows, elves come in all ages. Canadian children have often wanted to share their good fortune and didn't know how. Now they have the delight of stuffing their special shoeboxes full of treats for a child half the world away who will get no other gift. Of course, we can all participate in the fun of the shoeboxes, but they seem to touch our children in a special way.
Grandparents have been 'elves' since the beginning of time, and seem to always be finding new ways to reach out to their community. In the case of the SoGo Grannies, in Penticton, and the CanGo Grannies in Kamloops (to name only two) they have reached out across the ocean to the grannies raising orphans in South African. These amazing African women are raising an entire generation, innocent victims of the AIDS epidemic that has claimed their parents.
It shows that we can all be part of the magic of the season, whether we reach out to the stranger across the world or the one across the street or even across the hallway. However you plan to spend the holiday season, set aside an hour here or there for friends, whether old or new. If your friend is homebound your gift of an hour could be their best present, and the once you most enjoy giving. Your company is often the best gift of all.
From all the staff here at the Seniors CHOICE, stay safe, enjoy the holiday magic in your own way, and may the New Year be good to us all! |
