The old saying proves true–holidays really are even more special with a child. Even though Raven basically understands next to nothing about the whole Christmas thing, she definitely appreciates a few things about it already, like the plethora of twinkling lights and the fact that she gets fed a lot more finger food (because we want to keep her happy during social gatherings).
We took several precautionary measures with our Christmas tree this year, anticipating that Raven would spend all her days trying to get at the tree and yank off the ornaments and touch the lights. We didn’t put out the usual tree skirt (too much glitter that she’d cover herself in), haven’t put out any presents (for obvious reasons), and loaded the bottom of our tree with non-breakable miniature pillows and plastic ornaments.
Surprisingly, Raven seems so in awe of the tree that she usually regards it with something bordering on reverence, and the few times she’s been allowed close, she hasn’t so much as attempted a pull or a true grab–more just a gentle tapping of the ends of the lights or the branches.
And I feel a bit of a reverential spirit myself as I sit with a tired baby in our rocking chair while the snow blows outside on darkened nights and there is nothing to light our front room but the glow of a Christmas tree.
This is what the season is about—feeling a sense of peace in a crazy world because one tiny Baby came to deliver it, just over two millenia ago.
