It's hard to believe that Christmas is less then 3 weeks away I never decorate my apartment or put up a tree. My justification being that I'm never around for the holidays, I'm in Pittsburgh with my family. Christmas will be waiting for me there...my Dad has decorated the tree and hung the lights around the shrubbery in the front yard to perfection. My mom has all of the gifts wrapped and placed under the tree. So, there's really not much for me to do but relish in the joy of being with family and having Christmas gift wrapped and waiting for me upon my arrival.
Alright I admit it, I've been a bit of a Grinch this year. It's strange hearing Christmas music being blared when it's 70 degrees outside, or seeing lights hung around the palm trees on Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills. I don't even have the awareness of it being December when I'm outside on a sunny morning having some tea at the neighborhood coffee shop.
My friends back in Chicago were telling me this week about the first snow fall in Chicago. Pictures were posted all over Facebook. I found myself missing that experience. I had a dream about snow the other night and I so vividly remember how happy I was in the dream, a big smile across my face, looking up, wide-eyed as shimmery white flakes fell on my face and all around me.
There was always something magical about the first snow fall of the season for me. The glistening white crestfallen snow. So beautiful, crisp, clean, shimmery. The way it lands on your cheek, or stays on your eyelashes, or kisses your nose. Being nestled up warm in the house, watching snow fall beautifully on the street, illuminated by the street lights. All images I see in my head when someone mentions "first snow fall of the season."
Now mind you a week later when I was still digging my car out of the snow in 15 degree weather, or my car locks were frozen shut and I had to call AAA, or it was April and we now had the 15th snow storm of the season and below zero temperatures...that I don't miss. All of that was factored into why I moved to LA. My body just couldn't handle the cold any longer.
Tonight, I was at The Grove (an outdoor mall near my West Hollywood neighborhood). As I walked out of the Apple store, I happened to look up as I left the store and what did I see...snow flakes all around me, falling on my cheeks, my nose, my eye leashes. This big smile came on my face and I had this experience of joy, excitement and happiness. I was so excited, I was back to being a little girl again, delighted and in the wonderment of the first snow. It was a magical moment, complete with Bing Crosby singing White Christmas blaring from the PA system. For a moment, I felt like Rosemary Clooney, or the female lead in some utterly cheeky romantic comedy. I was absolutely giddy.
What an unexpected moment of surprise. I would have never imagined I would experience snow in LA. It didn't matter that it was manufactured and being pumped from a snow machine from the building across the street. It was a magical moment...and I was in the magic of that moment. I had a thought this week of missing snow...and poof, snow appeared. What a gift, what a moment. And the bonus of it all...no digging my car out the next day.
Each and every moment of our lives can be like that, if you just tune in and allow yourself to experience it. Try it now. Stop what you are doing, look up and just take in what ever you see, take a deep breath and become aware of your body sensations, your mood, your thoughts, your emotions. Just be, in the magic of the moment. What's the experience? How do you feel? What have you awakened yourself to?
My Christmas wish for you is many, many moments of magic and wonderment. They are all around us...if we just allow ourselves to experience them.
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