A Holiday Mission

I'm feeling a bit nostalgic these days.  

This time of year tends to bring a longing for the idyllic Norman Rockwell feeling.  

 The Currier & Ives picture-perfect scenery.  

Who are Norman Rockwell and Currier & Ives, you ask? 

I suppose they could be branded as propaganda for living a life of bliss and utter idealism.  

Imagine, if you will, the family- mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, a passel of kids and perhaps the jovial uncle- all spiffed up in holiday attire, laughing and singing carols, while gathered around the dazzling Christmas tree, which is nearly lost in the abundance of neatly wrapped presents piled beneath it.  A peek outside, you might see snow sprinkled on the moon lit snow, like powdered sugar on grandma's homemade Aebelskivers. 

Of course, I haven't experienced a holiday quite like this in
a
very
long
time
and try as I might,
even when I lived in the snow covered mid-west,
I couldn't replicate this lovely scene.
Not quite.

As a child, My Mom would work hard to create a beautiful Christmas scene, complete with
the sweet aromas of sugar cookies and homemade lefsa
(I won't mention the nose-crinkling odor of lutefisk)
and
we kids would go to bed with visions of sugarplums, definitely doing a jig in our heads.

 And, I'm quite certain we heard sleigh bells up on the roof top-- at least twice.  

You see, I live in the desert now and
'tis challenging to feel
Bing Crosby's, I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas,
or
Baby It's Cold Outside
(one of my personal favs),
because in the desert,
it is neither white nor cold outside. 

I do believe, 

I will make it my holiday mission, 

*

this 

year, to 

go out and 

recapture that

warm feeling of

f a m i l y and joy and

hope in all things, good.

B e c a u s e, to be t r u t h f u l,
We all need a bit of comfort and 

joy.

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