We decided not to get a Christmas tree this year, opting instead to do some minimal decorating in the living room one night... complete with the Vince Guaraldi Trio and hot chocolate.
Ari was somewhat disappointed, in the end, as evidenced by her heavy sighs and slumped shoulders. I think it just didn't quite live up to the picture she had created in her mind when we said, "Let's put up some Christmas decorations tonight, okay?"
She had seen some a few days prior in the stores and had just gone gaga over them. Something about the shiney, sparkly, gilttery beauty of it all—so strange and twinkly and clearly attached to something different or special that doesn't happen every single day.
So... our little daughter had constructed some scene of merriment and gloriousness in her head, which our tiny little fake 12" tree and lights strung along the windows of one wall just did not equal. Not even close.
Poor little thing. I know how she feels. I think holidays always pose the challenge of not getting too overtaken with our expectations and attachments, lest we miss the beauty of what actually occurs there in front of us.
The happy ending is she now loves the lights, and plugging them in so they can send a soft kind of multicolored glow all over the room makes all three of us simultaneously calm and giddy. Ah, the magic of Christmas decorations. No matter how small.
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