Wonder of the Season
Hear Ye! Hear Ye! It’s holiday concert time! That means joyful preparation of learning new songs or a new script, choosing holiday outfits, and gathering the family so all can enjoy the upcoming outing. Hopefully, your house will be filled with exuberant singing or lively music as your Little is eagerly, albeit repetitively, practicing new songs. Perhaps you are graced with a preview during dinner. One Little discreetly slinks off the chair under the table, crawls quickly and ninja-like to the adjacent hallway, so she can tiptoe back in slowly with hands covering her eyes while softly singing. 🎶She didn’t see me creep down the stairs to have a peek. She thought that I was tucked up in my bedroom fast asleep. I wasn’t.🎶 Big finish with a deep knee bend, big jump and a landing with arms straight up in ta-da. Dinner and a show, even in your own kitchen, is merry and festive. Maybe your preview comes with rhythmic bouncing on the bed at sleep time. Still sweet and cheerful. The bright face of wonder in a Little fully immersed in her music can illuminate any room… makes the mommy heart happy.
Concert season also means a variety of other Littles singing, dancing, playing instruments, and performing skits. Even during the older kid performances which are mandated by school, I find myself thinking, “Well… there’s one only a mother could love.” Snarky, right? I don’t mean to be, but sometimes you hear that tuba squawk and wish you had stepped out a minute to use the bathroom or take a phone call or something. Or that holiday dance was performed without much training. Or the script was almost-memorized. Or the off-key singer has a gift of projection. You’re checking your watch. But spot the family, and, sure enough, they are beaming with delight at their child on stage. My wonder of that performance is different than their wonder of that performance. And though I try not to, on occasion, I do wonder.
My children perform often. My adult life, I’ve been watching my own Littles on stage, and I have LOVED every moment of it. I love the tiny voices, the silly dances, the forgotten words in the poems, the very serious first-grade theatrical renditions of the nativity, the singing angels, the new trumpet carol. I have been witness to holiday productions from the mommy perspective for years. Each time my Little is on stage, I glow. Watching my Little enjoy her own performance as she fully engages warms my heart. I mean, I feel the energy of Love actively flowing, cozy and free. I really think she shines, and not just for me, for all! And, I do mean all of my Littles, in each of their things. I have no doubt that the performance I am enjoying is objectively gloriously entertaining.
Now, I am wondering, what if each parent is seeing her child truly? What if the enjoyment is not a parental bias? What if our special relationship with our child offers a crystal clear vision of the Perfect Creation who is our child? Maybe we have unfettered access to this truth because a parent’s unconditional love lifts the veils and dissipates the illusions. Perhaps our enjoyment of our child is a simple truth. Maybe we do have the ability to see perfect creation in every child, and our own child has just handed us the corrective glasses. Imagine life with the joy of that vision.
Wishing you a holiday season filled with Wonder.
