Blooming Onion. Blossoming Gratitude.
I’m finally completing my holiday thank you notes. Just two left. First off, thanks to everyone who donated toys, gifts, and moolah to the SisterHood Gift drive!
Turns out, with the exception of 20 teens, it was all us. It was a funny year. The highlight is that 275 kids received a bunch of new toys, gifts, and clothes on Christmas morning. Thanks to all of you who gave from your heart. You’re anonymous and so am I as those toys were compliments of the man in red or their parents. I don’t know the details of how each family managed their gift bags as it’s not my business. Those parents can make their own parenting decisions for their kids. Especially on Christmas morning.
Once again, I remembered a few things during this holiday gift drive. Here are 3 lessons I seem to forget every year after all those bags of toys head out in the U-Haul Sleigh.
First, it’s totally worth it. Second, it’s a hell of a lot of work and I need more people to join in the feel good fun of donating. Third, I’m starting in July next year.
Seriously. In July. I forget every year that it is such a big project which grows as other donors drop out. So, I’m switching strategies. I’m personally shopping once a month for our family’s toy donations. That way I won’t add to my holiday shopping and spending at a time that is already full in both regards. Feel free to adopt this strategy for your own. I’ll be happy to accept your toys all year long as I’ll be building a toy store in my basement.
I’m also having a Soul Sanctuary holiday gift collection in July. Look for it if you want a little ho ho ho in the middle of summer.
Speaking of thank you notes, I owe someone a note of gratitude for their gift.
It’s just that I don’t know who my Secret Santa was this year.
Let me back track a bit. My kid was flying in for the holidays. Great news.
She started sending packages to our house addressed to her. With a frequent reminder to put them in her closet without opening them upon arrival. No peeking. The repeated instruction wasn’t for me. I never peek. My husband, on the other hand, can be oblivious to repeated instructions.
Like the morning I found him blissfully using his new pet hair rake to clean up after Milo’s morning lay about on the carpet.
Yeah, it’s a thing. And someone is “raking in the dough” with that idea. Go figure. Needless to say, the infraction of opening a Christmas gift early led to immediate termination as head elf. I was hired on the spot to sort through boxes arriving on our doorstep. I diligently added to her secret stash with narry a peek at what was already closeted away.
Amidst the flurry of my daughter’s arrival, she disappeared to wrap gifts. (Yes, just as it was time to do the dishes. Some things never change).
While we chatted in the kitchen, there arose such a clatter. “Who ordered an onion?!”
She arrived in hysterics while showcasing a golden onion with green shoots tilting madly to one side. Okay, to be fair, I never portrayed my kid as a genius. And I’m notoriously lacking in the green thumb department. So, perhaps it was a bit of a parental failure (mine) that she mistook an amaryllis for an onion.
In one hand she held the ‘onion’ as her boyfriend trailed behind holding a little square box addressed to moi (another elf sorting error).
After everything calmed down and the proper apologies were made to the neglected plant, we noticed that even with mistreatment, life found a way to grow. Eventually, with a bit of space and letting it be, the stalks grew straight and flowered. In fact, there’s one flower left. Once that’s gone, I’ll watch a YouTube video to learn what to do next. But, I don’t want to get ahead of myself.
I do want to thank whomever sent that lovely blooming onion to me.
It filled our home with laughter and warmed our hearts knowing someone cared enough to send it our way. So, whoever you are, thank you.
This seems like a silly story to tell in the midst of the polarization in our country, the fires in the West, and the snows in the South. Yet, I think it’s important to realize that we’re like that blooming onion flower which grows even when stuck in a tiny box. And thrives when the box is removed.
Take care of yourself. Be kind and nurture one another. Tend to the environments in which you live, work, and share with all living creatures. Love the Mother anyway you can. Seems She really needs extra attention.
It’s a time to ask how you may help things grow rather than focus upon the distortion.
Forget the boxes you’ve put yourself and others in as everyone bends this way and that.
Be grateful for everything you have, who you are, and how you can contribute to improving life on the planet.
Quit the mud slinging and seek support if you’re cowering in fear. Remember to begin again with a deep breath and a desire to be a good human who abides by your own highest ideals. If I may be of help, please feel free to reach out.
Let’s grow together. Not apart.
Peace be with you and with all. No exceptions.
HeartWarming
News
The Power of Bridging by John Powell may be the book you need to read right now. While it may not look like it, a survey shows that 93% of people in the US want to reduce divisiveness. While many believe it’s possible to disagree, it’s hard to know how to move past our differences. Powell identifies four important terms key to understand how to move in the direction of a world where we honor differences, feel a connection to our human family (and ourselves), and disrupt the disempowering view of “other.” Bridging. Belonging. Othering. Breaking.
It is possible. Shall we begin now?
