The Gifts We Have

"We would give anything for what we have."
- Tony Hoagland

A friend forwarded this quote last Thursday, and it became an anchor during the frantic busy-ness of our holiday weekend. When we scrambled to finish yard work in the record-setting warmth of Saturday afternoon, I thought how much I would give for the yard if I didn't have it.  When the cat gnawed through the Christmas lights and pulled the ribbon off the Christmas tree on Sunday afternoon, I thought how much I would give for a cat that made me laugh and a tree that made me smile if I didn't have them. When the kids fought over the Advent wreath and we had tears over whose gingerbread house was the best . . . well, you get the picture. 

The December holiday season contains some of the most peaceful and most stressful moments of the year. In trying to appreciate the gifts that we have instead of focusing on the gifts to give and get, and in trying to laugh at the crazy, imperfect pageant of a family holiday, I hope to get through it unscathed.  We didn't do a great job of cultivating the peace over this past weekend, when I had to write down "REST" on my sticky note schedule for Sunday to ensure some degree of readiness for the coming week. Yet I can appreciate the decorated house, cat-damaged tree, and clean basement now that the work is done, and perhaps our early efforts will allow for moments of rest and peace when we need them more.