Bah Humbug

Perhaps, it shouldn't surprise me that my Beethoven Boy at the tender age of 10 spent eight glorious weeks on stage in a professional theatre production of "A Christmas Carol." On opening night, Christian astounded me with his confidence in his scenes with Scrooge and he seemed right at home with his new English accent bringing the characters of Turkey Boy, Want and six other minor roles to life. In one of the final scenes, Christian was left sitting alone on center stage with an enormous turkey on his lap with snowflakes gently falling thanks to the magic of special effects. I held my breath in wonder as Christian was transformed in that moment to Dicken's time when Scrooge discovered the "true meaning of Christmas."




It was Christian's first and only stage credit to date and I will forever count watching my son in that spectacular production as one of my favourite Christmas memories. Certainly, it was a big commitment for my husband and I as well as we needed to drive to the theatre, despite ferocious snow storms and such, and make sure Christian was present at every rehearsal and performance. IT is the same commitment that everyone involved in this professional stage presentation makes to each other and they brought down the house every time with their electric performances on stage.

At age thirteen, the Christmas season is not all jolly and bright for Christian, he can be rather jaded at at times and truthfully quite"Scrooge like!" It is easy to see it through his eyes as even people profess a desire for a simpler Christmas, there is still far too much stress attached to this holiday. Even Christian's dear great-grandmother at age 90 still feels the need to apologize for not being physically able to get out and do any Christmas shopping. And because of my back disability, I too cannot shop and seeing crowds of people pushing their way around yet another store makes me want to back into a corner and disappear. It seems that the only question that people ask in the month of December is "Are you ready for Christmas," or "Do you have your shopping all done yet?"

Every Christmas, my desire for a simpler Christmas feels more pressing, more necessary for my soul.
Of course, I love seeing the stocking hung, I adore listening to Christmas carols especially ones played by my children and seeing tasteful Christmas lights make me sigh with contentment. Christian shares my desire for less gifts, more meaningful moments and quiet peace. He feels overwhelmed if there is too much stuff under the tree and I love that at his age, he seems to understand what is important.

Truthfully, the only member of my family who firmly believes that "RECEIVING and not giving" is truly better is our two year old collie dog, Maestro who adores presents. In fact, Maestro is so greedy that he feels every present must be for him and when he is given one, he prances around the house with such enormous glee, so incredibly happy that yet another stuffie for him to squeak has been added to his collection. And so it is watching Maestro receive his gifts with such tremendous joy, that I find myself simply giddy with joy, just like Scrooge on that fine Christmas morning. It is the best present ever!