The gift of simplicity
Three years ago my daughter came out to the Island to celebrate Christmas with me. I was thrilled at the thought of spending time with her! I planned a very special meal for her with all the trimmings and all her favourites. I spent several days gathering the groceries, planning the menu assuring that traditional family favourites were included and that she would have a magical time during her visit.
I awoke early on the day of her arrival and started to prepare the food. In my mind it was going to be a banner Christmas! This was our second celebration of Christmas as a newly reconfigured family. This Christmas it would be just she and I, and I felt a strong sense of responsibility to make sure everything was just perfect. I prayerfully asked my Angels to help make this the best Christmas ever! As 4pm rolled around I started up the oven, had the turkey ready to cook, my plan was that it would be ready to serve when she arrived at my home. As I placed the turkey in the oven, the lights began to flash in my apartment, all of the sudden the power died out in the entire building! After several cell phone calls to the local electrical company I was finally informed that the power was out for at least 6-10 hours with no hope of it being re-connected any time soon. Great, December 24th, a half cooked meal, and no power. I sat on my sofa feeling upset and began to call on my guides for help and direction. Nathan began to speak to my heart… “Dear one, for so long you have maintained the tradition, but I ask you, what is your true Christmas? What creates magnificent memories dear one are truly authentic expressions of love and the simplicity in the moment”. Geeze, I thought, thanks for the wisdom, so now what! My Guide continued..“Trust that we will show you a celebration bathed in your authentic self. Release all control, follow the clues, and see what manifests. We heard your prayer dear one, it will be the best Christmas ever..trust!”
After much grumbling and mumbling I gave in to Nathan’s requests and surrendered to the process. I gathered the half cooked meal and refrigerated what I could. I collected my grumbly self and set out to pick up my daughter at the airport. As I travelled through the city I noticed that a vast majority of homes in my end of town were without power! As I drove along I heard my guide Nathan whisper to my heart, “Surrender, and follow the clues.”
After greeting my daughter at the airport I informed her about the situation, she smiled, gave me a big hug and said “cool Mom, lets go on an adventure!” As we drove home, desperately searching for a restaurant to enjoy our Christmas meal it quickly became evident that not a single place was open on this Christmas Eve. After giving up hope for a meal at a good restaurant we came across a “sign”, yep, the good old golden arches, a McDonalds fast food restaurant! We pulled in and ordered the Seasonal Burger (Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce on a bun!) and fries. Laughing uncontrollably at the situation we each took our bags of food and headed home. As we entered my darkened apartment, I lit two candles and spread out a blanket on the floor. We sat on the floor, the room was dimly lit by candle light and we proceeded to munch away on our fries, Seasonal Burger and sipped on a rather warm soda drink.
Our beautiful Christmas eve dinner in a bag lasted for hours. The comfort of just hanging out and simply being ourselves created an environment in which we chatted, giggled, and laughed for hours. We fed the dog some fries, watched the candles dance in the darkness and drank our sodas, even at times blowing bubbles through the straws and watching the soda foam up through the straw. I didn’t want the evening to end! It was perfect, it was beautiful, it was love!
As the clock neared midnight, the lights came back on, the electrical power had been re-established. We both felt a twinge of sadness that our burger and fries campsite had been infiltrated by the bright lights. All forms of traditional shoulds and should nots, right and wrong, good and otherwise were stripped away in our Christmas Eve dinner experience and were replaced by simplicity, connection, laughter, spontaneity and playfulness. It was the best Christmas ever! Of course, I have no regrets of celebrations past, glorious memorable times with friends and family, ancestral recipes celebrated. Im sure that we will continue traditions and celebrations in the future but now with the added simplicity of authentically celebrating one another for who we simply are. Christmas three years ago was filled with candle light and camping out with our burgers and fries and it was the perfect Christmas, my prayers were answered!
What did I learn:
-The unexpected can be a glorious journey filled with frustration, love and laughter, its all about how I flow with the moment and what I choose to make of it. The unexpected can be an opportunity vs an obstacle.
-Creator hears my prayers, maybe not in the way that I see the outcome to be, but none the less, prayers do get answered when I surrender to the process that I am invited into by Spirit
-I learnt to view difficult, unplanned situations as an opportunity to experience a higher perspective of what love and celebration is all about
-traditions, family events, and ancestral ways are all sacred and beautiful opportunities to connect to my heritage, but, accepting an opportunity to step outside of the norm creates a wonderful opportunity to bond even deeper, fuller and with unexpected bouts of uncontrolled laughter…the universe does have a wonderful sense of humour!
-When I am frustrated because things aren’t going as I planned (not my favourite scenario lol!), I simply sit still for a moment, breathe, ask prayerfully for guidance and then listen to that still small inner voice for guidance. Trust that the guidance is for my higher good and take the risk of stepping into a scenario that may reveal itself as an even greater experience
-Spirit loves simplicity, finds love in a moment of laughter, connects hearts through unplanned spontaneous moments, breaks down barriers and walls through the breaking of bread together…even if it is a Seasonal Burger and fries!!
Blessings and Light