Know your stage

December 21, 2006 in Uncategorized

This picture is from the cover of my very favorite Christmas book as a kid. I always knew Christmas was for sure coming when this book appeared on the coffee table in our living room, that bastion of proper living where no crumb dared to venture. I love everything about this book and now read it to Tess. Little elves making cookies and jolly Santa – I love the colors of the title above his head. I just adore it.

A short observation about the holidays and about the stages of our lives:
Emma is 14. A budding artist, she is very specific about what she wants for Christmas: a Wacom 6×11 Graphics Tablet for her laptop tops the list.

Tess is 3. When we ask her what she wants Santa to bring her, it is always the same answer with unerring simplicity: "I want Santa to bring me a candy cane and a hug."

You have to love the contrast.

At which stage are you?

About Patti Digh

Patti Digh is an author, speaker, and educator who builds learning communities and gets to the heart of difficult topics. Her work over the last three decades has focused on diversity, inclusion, social justice, and living and working mindfully. She has developed diversity strategies and educational programming for major nonprofit and corporate organizations and has been a featured speaker at many national and international conferences.

9 comments to " Know your stage "


Wendy

December 21, 2006 AT 11:56PM

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hoped 2007 is a blessed year for you and your family. Thanks for sharing a piece of your life and being an inspiration to so many.

jylene

December 22, 2006 AT 7:03AM

i am at the stage of having three grown children, two with children of their own. christmas just keeps evolving for me, much different now than it was 10 or 20 years ago. this year, in lieu of christmas and birthday presents, we offered them a one-week rental in a beach house next summer. they all took us up on it, which made shopping very simple this year. (i just couldn’t stick with the no presents rule, tho. this is beyond my husband’s comprehension.)
i wish you all a very merry, happy, happy holiday season, full of love, laughter, and precious moments with family and friends!

Marilyn

December 22, 2006 AT 9:58AM

I FREAKED OUT when I opened this post…because I HAD THAT BOOK! That was my FAVORITE book as a child. I spent HOURS poring over the illustrations and trying to imagine living in that world. I was just thinking about it the past couple of days…and wondering what’s happened to it, because I thought I’d held onto it. Mine didn’t appear on our coffee table…it lived in bed with me, where I’d sit in my reverie and imagine myself living inside that book. I see now that it brought me great solace at a time when I really needed some.

I think I’m at the perimenopausal stage…all I want this Christmas vacation is to crawl into bed with good books or lie on the sofa and watch movies…and not have to DO anything. ;)

grace, Thomai Meta Hara

December 22, 2006 AT 12:03PM

my modest teen son the artist and musician turns 18 on the 28th- he is once again not asking for anything, but appreciating everything- he’ll get art supplies/tools and an ishuffle- he hasn’t ever had a portable cd player or ipod- so the shuffle is a big deal

this year
x-mas is not daunting or emotionally painful-
i am experiencing ease, leftovers from a surprise blessing and lots of release this year

my yours be wonderfully blessed and peaceful

Chris Kondrat

December 22, 2006 AT 12:08PM

Hi Patti-
I have really enjoyed all your articles. Merry Christmas and Happy New year. It will be 2007 befor I read you again!
Chris Kondrat

David Zinger

December 23, 2006 AT 11:11AM

I just want to keep my inner Santa alive. At Christmas I eat enough to keep the figure now I just want to keep the spirit.

Cherry Horton Reidenbach

December 23, 2006 AT 1:33PM

I found you on Skirt! and feel like I have been given an absolutely Wonderful Christmas present!

Thank you for your insight!

Merry Christmas

Cherry

Joy

December 23, 2006 AT 2:13PM

Hi Patti!

A hug and a candy cane work for me.

There’s beauty to be found in the ordinary, those small miracles we treasure when we think about things that really matter . . .

Happy Holidays!

Sally

December 26, 2006 AT 11:34AM

I thought I was at the specific stage — my husband asked me for a list, I made a list, he bought the things on it…. Inside I felt a little sad, because I like it when he chooses for himself what will make me happy — because he’s always right. Apparently, however, he felt that too, and made a terrific adjustment to my list. I had asked for a new printer for our computer, and he totally upgraded my choice, so now we can print 4×6 pictures straight off our cameras. For this little adjustment and the AMAZING Christmas dinner he cooked for 10 of us and for the two beautiful little babies he’s given me (one is three, just asking for “presents” from Santa; the other, 11 months) and for his lovely older daughters who bring such joy to their baby siblings and for just how he loves me, loves me (yes, I meant to say that twice), I adore him. I couldn’t be luckier. Frankly, I wonder every day what I did to deserve him. He is the only gift I need.

Happy 2007,

Sally