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The Christmas Candy Box: A True Gift

 

The box had chocolate candy in it; it was delicious.  The candy was so good that he ate it all in one day!  He didn’t mean to, he just couldn’t stop eating that chocolate, it was that good.  He didn’t want his mom to know that he ate it all so fast.  How could he hide the fact?  He took the box, which looked like a little treasure chest, and put it in his closet.  When his mom asked where the candy box was it would be simple to tell her he put the box in his closet; she would think that he was saving the candy for special times; she does that.  He knew that would buy him some time, and, that eventually she would forget and she wouldn’t have to know he ate the candy all in one day.  Whew.  He was relieved.

 

Since the candy box was filled with empty candy wrappers, he just slowly put them into the trash in his room.  Since he was getting box down every week to throw away a candy wrapper, he decided to fill the box with small pieces of paper that he wrote small notes on.  The notes were for Christmas gifts.  This was fun, throwing away the candy wrappers and replacing them with papers with gift requests.  He took his time in thinking about what to write on each small piece of paper.  It became a sort of game for him.

 

After a few months he had run out of candy wrappers to throw away; but, he continued to add the small pieces of paper with the gift requests on them.  Some months seemed to pass slowly and he thoughtfully wrote the gift request down, yet other months passed so quickly that he just jotted down a scribbled note.  The small box he had received for Christmas, which was once full of delicious chocolate now held many small pieces of paper, each paper filled with a single gift request.

 

By August the box was starting to get full; he had to unfold the little pieces of paper and re-fold them tightly so that he could put more gift suggestions in for three more months.  He knew it would be a tight fit, but, by re-folding the small papers he would be able to accomplish his goal.

 

The next few months passed quickly, too quickly.  By Thanksgiving his family began talking about Christmas gifts.  This was always a topic enjoyed by all.  His mother mentioned the small box of chocolate that he had received last year.  She began telling everyone that he would most surely enjoy more chocolate since he had kept the box in his closet and enjoyed the candy for months.  His secret had been kept, and, now he felt he could share another reason that he had the small box in his closet.

 

He ran to his room and brought the small box, the one the delicious chocolate had been in, that was shaped like a treasure chest out to the room that his family was gather in.  He asked to share some gift ideas with them.  He open the small box, filled with little pieces of paper, and began to place the small paper pieces on a table in the center of the room.  He told this family that he had some suggestions for Christmas gifts; and began to unfold the small, folded pieces of paper that he had patiently placed in the box over the past year.  His family was amazed as he read off gift suggestions for every member of the family, a few neighbors and friends.

 

Throughout the year his small treasure chest which had started out filled with chocolate that he devoured in short time was filled with another sort of treasure.  Each month he jotted down a gift suggestion for someone that had shared a wish, desire or need.  Each small paper held a treasure in as much as this small realization by this young boy who knew that the treasure chest could help him keep not only his chocolate eating secret, but, also that the chest could help him remember these gifts that would help make this Christmas gift giving special.

 

Now he felt absolved, the impulsive chocolate eating led him to hide this delightful little box which became a true treasure box for him and his family.  The entire family delighted in reading each little piece of paper.  Wishes, desires and needs were rediscovered and appropriate gift suggestions were discovered.  The family was thankful to share this small box of thoughtfulness and the family worked together to make these wishes become true Christmas gifts to be shared and enjoyed.

The Autumn Rose

 

Driving home from work on a recent autumn day, I noticed a beautiful, lonely rose.  I had driven by there so many times before, but did not see the roses.  This day was different because it was autumn, the leaves had pretty much fallen off of the rose bush, and the stems were so long, leggy, fragile and offered up only the lonely, but beautiful rose.

 

I was stuck by the singularity not only of this beautiful rose, but also by the thought of how often we pass by such individuality and beauty.

 

After winter, we are so excited to see green, new leaves of grass sticking up through the snow.  Then the spring flowers bloom and again, we are so pleased by their color and beauty that we are in awe of each new flower as it appears.  Then, soon, summer brings so many beautiful green leaves, grass and flowers that we begin to take it all for granted.  We do not notice as often the individual flowers.  I’m sure that we miss so much beauty this way.  We are involved with our thoughts and busy schedules that we begin to pass by the most beautiful displays of landscaping and beautifully planted gardens with only a fleeting glace.

 

I do try to take time throughout the summer to visit public and private gardens.  It is so relaxing, and you can take as much time as you would like to for strolling, sitting on a bench, and watching the bees and butterflies as they flutter about.  I am always amazed by the changing display of colors and types of flowers.  But, even as I visit, the amount of beautiful flowers causes me to look at the garden as a whole; to see the patches of color, and not the individual flowers.

 

At times, it seems like this is how we see each other.  There are times when we are face to face with one person; we notice everything about them.  These times are when we seem to understand more about the person, how they are communicating with us, how they dress, how they move, and the beauty of the individual.

 

There are times when we are in a crowd and everyone is sitting or standing together.  The individuality of the people becomes like the individual flowers, and rather than seeing on a patch of color, we now see a group of like individuals joined by a task, thought or idea.

 

Then, like the singular, autumn rose, there are times when we are struck by the isolation of an individual.  Perhaps we are passing an older person on the street, at a hospital or nursing home.  There we see people, not unlike the autumn rose, who are standing out because their rose bush has lost its leaves, their limbs are becoming fragile, and yet they are just as beautiful as the singular rose.  I think the beauty lies within their eyes; and can be seen and appreciated just as easily as the beauty of the autumn rose.  The key for us is taking the time to see and appreciate this beauty.  It is so easy to pass by quickly, to glance but not see, to keep on moving without even recognizing what we see.  We must remind ourselves to see the beauty before us.

 

Peacock Couple in Rural Ohio: Symbol or Message

My husband and I own the home that my parents built after WWII, on the edge of my grandfather’s farm in rural Ohio.  The house is a Cape Cod, small but comfortable.  It is on four acres of property, surrounded by woodlands.  A road runs by, in front of the property, and separates several wooded areas.  The ditches are deep on either side of the road.  The wooded property directly across the road from the front of the house is fenced with barbed wire, and is oftentimes full of Black Angus cattle.  Occasionally I will see squirrels, a chipmunk or two, lots of birds or even deer in the woods.  However, on Mother’s Day 2009, my husband and I witnessed two peacocks, a pure whit male and a blue and green female, which seemed to appear from nowhere, circle our property and then disappear.  This seemed so very unusual.  I have never seen a peacock there before, don’t know of anyone in the area who raises, or owns, peacocks, and have not seen them since.

 

On Mother’s Day, we were sitting in the living room, drinking coffee when my husband noticed something moving in the ditch across the road.  At first he thought it may be the head of a crane.  He told me, and I joined him at the window.  We were both surprised to witness two peacocks as they emerged from the ditch; first the white one, and then, the blue and green one following.  They walked up from the ditch into the wooded area directly across from our home, and the white one jumped up onto a stump and spread his feathers into the beautiful fan shape.  He was so proud and lovely.  The female just walked calmly around beside the tree stump as he continued to display his beautiful plumage.  He continued this beautiful display for a few minutes; my husband went on a search for a camera as I watched in amazement.  Finally, the two began to walk towards the fence line, through the fence, across the road and walked through our property, to the wooded area behind the house and finally disappeared.  On this journey, the male led, the female followed not far behind him.  They walked slowly, and the length of their plumage was extremely long.  They were a beautiful couple.

 

I did not understand why we saw them.  I enjoyed every moment of the sighting, and was overwhelmed by their beauty and the obvious link between them; they were a couple.  It seemed as though the display was intentional.  Their appearance seemed planned, and the fact that they walked across to the wooded area directly across from our living room window and then the proud display on top of the tree stump just did not seem as if it could be accidental.  After the obvious appearance, and performance, they definitely made their presence known as they seemed to walk through familiar territory, through the side yard and into the wooded area behind the house.  I knew that there was more to this sighting than meets the eye.  It was almost as if the peacocks were bringing a message from my parents; they were behaving much like my parents could have if they were these peacocks.  It was wondrous.

 

My husband missed quite a bit of the performance, but did see them walk though the yard and behind the house.  He tried to take photographs, but the cameras he found did not have a lens which allowed him to photograph the peacocks very well.

 

Several months later I was on a tour in California, at the J Paul Getty Museum, and visited an exhibit of manuscript illuminations.  I noticed a small peacock in the margin of one of the manuscript pages, and read that peacocks were a Christian symbol of eternal life.

 

All of this began to tie together for me.  I know that the psychic, John Edwards, tells us that we are sent messages from loved ones through symbols.  That our loved ones sometimes make themselves known, or visit through these symbolic gestures or items.  In this case, the peacocks; a male, my father and the female, my mother behaving much the way that they may have chosen if they were going to send such a message.  My father was more outgoing, and it made perfect sense to me that he would capture my attention by the beautiful display on the tree stump.  The female, was so attentive and followed right along, in perfect agreement.  The couple was so very intent on being seen.

 

I am still not sure of the message, other than being glad to see the couple together and traveling together as they loved to do.  The sight of this peacock couple brought me joy on Mother’s Day and did cause me to think of my parents.  I think they were just glad to be seen, remembered, and traveling familiar ground.

 

My father died in 1969 and my mother died in 2001.  There were many years of separation.  The very thought of them being reunited is heartwarming.  I choose to believe that this was a symbolic message, as John Edwards says may happen.  I enjoy thinking that the display was more than just letting us know that they were aware of us, but rather that the proud display was also a message of approval of our being there.

 

I used to sit under a tree in the summer with my father and he would talk.  I remember one summer day when we were sitting in the back yard, under a tree, drinking Kool-Aid and he was talking about the fact that sometimes he could sense his father’s presence.  Even as a child I did recognize his sincerity and the fact that he welcomed the feeling.  It made him happy.  The peacock sighting is my sensing of my parents presence.  It made me happy too.

 

Now the peacock sighting in rural Ohio does not seem so strange.  Well, ok, it is still very strange; but, I understand how and why now.  This exceptional experience has been enriching and left beautiful memories.