I drag myself off the sofa, grab my cookbooks and notebook then sigh. Letter……… I’ve got nothing my head is blank. I begin to list the gifts I need to buy, organize myself and the shopping won’t be so bad ….so I try to convince myself! I jot down a few letter ideas as the shopping list forms. I look down at the pad collecting my letter ideas. It’s a mess, there is more scribbling here than a two year old can create! Frustrated I glance up to the television, Tim Allen is flying across my screen driving a sleigh in Santa Clause 2. I giggle out loud. I am 29 +11 years old and I still wonder what it would be like to ride on Santa’s Sleigh! Stop being so childish, I think to myself!

Ok, on to the recipes! I start to smile as I review some of my childhood favorites, like walnut sandies! I begin the second list for grocery shopping and continue to jot down letter ideas, crossing them out as fast as I write them down. I lean back into the pillows on the sofa and groan; maybe there won’t be a holiday letter this year.
I glance back at the television; Tim Allen is handing out gifts to adults at an office party. Wait, he is handing out everyone’s childhood favorites, tinker toys, that game ‘Mouse Trap’, baby dolls….. all to adults!………….I laugh out loud as I watch grown men laying on the floor playing ‘Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots’ and women in stiletto heels using an ‘Easy Bake Oven’……….I stop abruptly my letter was composing before my eyes!

We get so wrapped up in shopping, baking, decorating that we forget how to enjoy the holiday. Maybe we should turn to our children for the true holiday spirit! Spirit we can keep with us all year long. Yea, I think I might be on to something here……….Do you remember………….

· Laughing so hard milk came out your nose?
· When bodily functions, like passing gas or burping were the funniest things you have ever heard?
· Skipping down the sidewalk, and not being embarrassed?
· Sneaking cake for breakfast?
· When falling down, skinning your knees, and crying was just fine?
· Lazy summer days, with no particular place to go and nothing to particular to do?
· Not afraid to ask questions? ‘Excuse me sir, why don’t you have a front tooth?’
· Being scared out of your mind because you didn’t do your homework, what if I get a detention?……..imagine if that was your biggest worry today!

As this list forms, I realize I have used my children for encouragement on many occasions. This summer my daughter Ashley lost a best friend in a horrible car accident. Her ability to work through the pain was and is admirable not to mention inspirational. It was the return of her smile and laughter that guided Joe & I through those dark weeks.

So, take the seriousness out of life for awhile. Enjoy the little things in life like the first snowfall of the season or wearing your PJ’s all day long. I plan on having cheesecake for breakfast tomorrow; I know it will probably all end up on my hips, but one piece won’t kill me! I think I will ask the guy in the deli counter if his netting for his beard itches! I also think I will skip to my car in the parking lot…………………

It is our holiday wish that you allow the child within you

to come alive this holiday season.

Warmest Wishes & God Bless
~The Davenport Family