Bear with me… I always become introspective around this time, with this year being no exception. For these moments of reflection happen right on schedule. Two weeks before Christmas, I always reminisce. Nostalgia pays a visit. Now a warm-hearted emotion indulges us to go down memory lane remembering a special moment, place, person or thing. Sometimes holding on to the memory as if it were the only thing left. It’s a sentimental journey. As we reflect on what once was, which always involves a longing to relive an aspect of an experience. Life is all about creating special memories.
Sometimes it’s the simplest thing, which enables us to revive things from years ago. Containers filled with decorations now leave their storage compartment as I continue searching through them for inspiration. Some ornaments were gifts from Christmas’s long ago and now a faint color from handling over the years. Just like a memory fades over time. It is only evoked with an item, a fragrance, and music or with anything that draws it from its hiding place. A candle I had for years, which was never lit. A book I wrapped that was intended to be a gift but wasn’t given. An afghan that wasn’t finished, which was to add to the décor and provide warmth when the nights grew cold. Faded, unlit, kept, and unfinished.
REMEMBERING IS IMPORTANT WHEN ONE YEAR GLIDES TO THE NEXT
In life, things fade with age. There are things we never use, stuff we hold back, and unfinished business. Then the end of the year glides in, and we wonder where the year went. We follow it up by saying, “I can’t believe it’s two weeks until Christmas.” The faded ornaments, the unused candle, the kept gift, the partially completed afghan will now all be celebrating their twentieth anniversary. Every year I look at these items, smile, and place them back where they belong, into the box and back on the shelf.
Perhaps it will take another twenty years before I light that candle, complete the afghan, and open the gift that was set aside. Maybe these items will always remain just as they are: ungiven, unlit, and unfinished. Just like a memory remains just a memory. I reminisce about who I was back in the day when I first held those knitting needles. Maybe it’s more in line with the feeling I had when I first wrapped that book and purchased the scented candle.
A much older version of who I was recaptures those finer moments. Moments we only relive through remembering. Just maybe by placing these items where they belong… back on the shelf preserves the memory. You see there’s a reason we hold on to stuff. We hold on to things sometimes as a way to recapture moments from our past that we never want to forget. This Christmas season as you go through the stuff, take joy in remembering.
Christmas gives us the opportunity to pause and reflect on the important things around us – a time when we can look back on the year that has passed and prepare for the year ahead.