D is for Delight!
by CurlyRed president and principal designer M. Kendall Ludwig
When I was a child at Christmastime, delight was a daily experience. Seeing the lights and decorations around me, singing carols, baking cookies, finding Christmas cards in our mailbox, checking my stocking to see if there was anything inside, parties with loved ones, getting to "shop" for my family at Santa's workshop at school.
The older I get, with the growing Christmas to-do lists and expectations, and desire to create magical experiences for my own children, I've found those moments of delight harder and harder to come by.
I've written several times this year of the importance to making space to slow down, observe, to be in the present. This becomes all the more important as holiday season pressures work to actively steal our delight. I applaud families that have decided to minimize gift-giving, individuals that have taken steps to simplify their schedules, or even those who just looked for opportunities to give back to those in need during holiday time. In those moments, in realizing our abundance, delight can flow.
At the end of one of my favorite Christmas movies, A Muppet Christmas Carol, Scrooge sings a lovely song called “Thankful Heart.” The lyrics go like this:
With a thankful heart, with an endless joy
With a growing family, every girl and boy
Will be nephew and niece to me
Will bring love, hope, and peace to me
Yes, and every night will end and every day will start
with a grateful prayer and a thankful heart
With an open smile and with open doors
I will bid you welcome, what is mine is yours
That sure sounds like pure delight to me.
From the bottom of my heart, I wish you and your loved ones a safe and peaceful holiday season, where you might find daily delight, even in the smallest of ways.
__________
Monthly words to remember:
“So may His joy rush over you
Delight in the path He has called you to
May all your steps walk in Heaven's endless light
Beyond this Christmas night”
―Keith & Kristyn Getty, An Irish Christmas Blessing
——————————
Custom illustration by CurlyRed junior designer Olivia O'Brien
Categories: 16 years of CurlyRed