I'm also keeping my New Year's Resolution of celebrating the every day holiday's and seasons. My resolution is to celebrate the kind of days that so easily slip by in the hurly-burly of living. The kind of celebrations and pleasures that are so casual they slip by because I think:
- There's still time
- I'll do that tomorrow, or Sunday or next week
- It'll make a mess, so I'll do it later
- It'll take too much time now, I will wait until I can savor the moment
- I don't have _____ (fill in the blank), so I can't do it to perfection now
These casual celebrations usually require something that I don't have on hand like white glue, glitter, sugar sprinkles, food dye, yeast, scraps of fabric and most precious of all--a half day set aside for Joy.
Why I think Joy needs a formal invitation, I don't know. These small pleasures require me to think ahead, buy the materials, plan the time and tolerate the eye rolling of others, ahem....Prince Charming.
Small pleasures require a little dreaming, a little planning, and a sense of whimsy.
I completely forgot about this resolution of mine, until I bought a pack of mint gum.
Every year I buy a pack of mint gum so that I can stick a piece or two in the grandchildren's Valentine's Day cards, continuing a Valentine's Day tradition from my grandma.
By today's standards, we were very poor when I was growing up. But we didn't know it because we didn't have any less than our friends or neighbors. Those were the days when a single stick of gum made me happy for a week. I placed the stick of mint gum by my bed and smelled it every night, until the smell started to fade, and then I'd carefully break off a piece and chew it, adding a new small piece when the flavor from the first piece faded.
I suppose my grandchildren, who regularly fly on jet airplanes wonder why I send them just one stick of mint gum. Sometimes I wonder if in their lives of abundance they know the intense pleasure of a single stick of gum?
It's easy in my own life of plenty to lose sight of simple pleasures.
So today after I mailed out the Valentines, I got out the red construction paper, white paper doilies, white glue and scissors to make a Valentine's Day bunting for Prince Charming.
Joy accepted my crayon invitation to come play. Sweet Reader I'm hoping you will be mine for Valentine's Day.
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