My Grown Up Christmas List

Its the time of year when you start thinking about all of the blessings in your life and the child within starts dreaming and wishing. As a child I remember pouring over the Sears catalog, circling doll houses, model horses, and tinkertoys with enthusiasm and writing letters to Santa, assuring him that regardless of what my brother said, I really had been a good girl that year.

I remember school Christmas parties where Santa would make a grand appearance, handing out presents to each girl and boy and then patiently sit through photos with all of the children in attendance. I remember searches for the perfect tree and the styrofoam gingerbread ornaments that I loved to hang on the tree. I remember a pair of elf dolls dressed in red, green and white that my brother and I would carefully tuck onto the tree branches. I remember the sweetness of peppermint sticks in stockings and the orange that would always be tucked in the bottom....and the warmth of the woodstove while snow drifted lazily out of a gray winter sky.

As in my childhood, I find myself these last few days making another Christmas list. Not one for toys and trinkets, but one for peace, love and strength. I would wish these to my friends and family, and one big one to the world at large. I would ask for strength for my family struggling with worry. I would ask for health for those in pain. I would ask for peace for those who have lost and joy for the memories that remain. I would ask that we grow closer as a family and work together on our problems. I wish LOVE. Because long after the wrappings are torn off and tree is emptied of its bounty, love would still be there; an ongoing, eternal reminder of how much we mean to one another and how none of us are truly alone.


Let me close this with a song I love at Christmas....Here is a link to the video by Amy Grant.

My Grown Up Christmas List

Do you remember me?
I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you with childhood fantasies
Well, I'm all grown-up now
Can you still help somehow?
I'm not a child, but my heart still can dream
So here's my lifelong wish
My grown-up Christmas list
Not for myself, but for a world in need

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
Every man would have a friend
That right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown-up Christmas list

What is this illusion called the innocence of youth?
Maybe only in that blind belief can we ever find the truth

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal our hearts
Every man would have a friend
That right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown-up Christmas list

This is my only lifelong wish
This is my grown-up Christmas list