How to find Holiday Spirit

I heard people singing in the distance as I was checking my email tonight. After the kids are asleep it’s my time to catch up on everything and I was in my world of blogging and emailing as it slowly dawned on me that carolers were approaching. My first instinct was strange: I wanted to hide. Huh? When I opened the curtain I saw people in hats and sweaters holding candles in a loose grouping that was half standing, half wandering down the street, singing. I got up and got Dave and we stepped onto the front porch to watch as this large group of dark figures with candles asked if we had any requests. I couldn’t think of anything because anything was what I wanted to hear. I just wanted to hear them sing some more. It was such a gift and such a shift to be invited out of my head and into the night, the cool air, under the stars to stand among these strangers, my neighbors, and watch their slow meandering down the street as they spread wide swaths of musical cheer. What a difference to be out of my room where I sit on my computer supposedly communicating with the entire world by watching youtube videos of snowball fights in NY and reading blurbs of old acquaintances on facebook, and face to face with these beautiful people singing to us. I think the attention of all those voices, all those hearts on us and our house was what made my first impulse to run. I am not used to receiving that much sweet wholesome plain goodness from people. My people. Not old classmates in Connecticut, but my neighbors who hand my children candy on Halloween and sing to us tonight. The flesh and blood that sleeps and eats and breathes in the houses around my house. The people who surround me this day. This moment.

Here’s to my neighbors. Here’s to singing and the way it so easily opens my heart. Here’s to all that this season is meant to remind us about:
Love, peace, generosity, gratitude and joy.