It matters to the one who cares

What really matters to you? Here we are ~~ Santa is packing his sleigh, reindeer are prancing, and people are pacing the stores for just the right “gift”. Have you ever given someone a gift and wondered if they really liked it? Have you ever despaired of finding something just right for a special someone? Do you want to know what Santa would bring you if you still believed?

He would bring you what you asked for. He would bring you something that mattered to you…..something you had a special penchant for, something you really cared about!

Do you remember when you searched the Sears Wishbooks and poured over Toys R Us  flyers? Some of us are still little kids at heart and find magic at Christmas. Have you been online at your favorite sites finding “just the thing” you secretly wish Santa ( you) or Santa ( someone else) would wrap up with a big bow and have waiting under your tree?

Have you ever watched a family open gifts? Have you noticed what things end up in the closet to be unearthed years later or what things are returned post haste with a vague “it didn’t work out”. Those things were neutral. They were not imbued with positive or negative attributes. They were not desirable or undesirable based on their newness, their costliness or their exclusivity.

So, what causes us to want or not want something or someone or someplace?

It is unique and indefinable. It is that spark of life, your heart’s desire, a vapor that wafts on the air just beyond expressed consciousness. It is what we care about; therefore, it is what matters to us. It’s deep inside, so deep that we are not always fully aware of it ourselves. It is hard to express when someone asks us “What do you want?” How many times do we say, “oh, anything will do” or ” ahhh, I have everything I need”.

That’s not the same as what would matter to you? What would you ask for if you knew ( like little kids do) that Santa will come through!!! Make a list and drop it in the specially decorated box at your local post office marked “Letters to Santa”. Then, write yourself one back and address it to yourself with a stamp and an expectation. You can deliver everything you ask yourself for- you have “angel elves” – working out your expressed wishes in ways you never dreamed of.

Sometimes I feel like I need to shake myself, to wake myself:
I feel like I’m just sleep walkin’ through my life.
It’s like I’m swimmin’ in an ocean of emotion,
But still, somehow, slowly goin’ numb inside.
I don’t like who I’m becomin’, I know I’ve gotta do somethin’,
Before my life passes right by.

I want to cry like the rain, cry like the rain,
Shine like the sun on a beautiful mornin’.
Sing to the heavens like a church bell ringin’,
Fight with the devil an’ go down swingin’.
Fly like a bird, roll like a stone,
Love like I ain’t afraid to be alone.
Take everything that this world has to give,
I wanna live.

Sometimes I wonder why I work so hard to guard my heart.
Well, I hardly feel anything at all.
I’ve spent my whole life buildin’ up this ivory tower.
And now that I’m in it, I keep wishin’ it would fall.
So I can feel the ground beneath me, really taste this air I’m breathin’,
And know that I’m alive.

I want to cry like the rain, cry like the rain,
Shine like the sun on a beautiful mornin’.
Sing to the heavens like a church bell ringin’,
Fight with the devil an’ go down swingin’.
Fly like a bird, roll like a stone,
Love like I ain’t afraid to be alone.
Take everything that this world has to give,
I wanna live,
I wanna live.

Somethin’ deep inside keeps sayin life is like a vapor,
It’s gone in just the twinklin’ of an eye.

I want to cry like the rain, cry like the rain,
Shine like the sun on a beautiful mornin’.
Sing to the heavens like a church bell ringin’,
Fight with the devil an’ go down swingin’.
Fly like a bird, roll like a stone,
Love like I ain’t afraid to be alone.
Take everything that this world has to give.
I wanna take every breath I can get,
I wanna live.
Josh Gracin-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYjmy-4EHLY

Santa doesn’t judge what matters to us. He doesn’t question what we care about or find value in. He assigns an elf to the request and is satisfied to see that big smile that breaks across our face. That smile that says…”Thank YOU!” This is just want I wanted and “how did you know”, “how did you do it”?  Just to see you smile- Tim McGraw style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Amsivcy8fBs&feature=related

Do you know why we give others what they really want? Because we care. It matters to us, that they be happy and have exactly what they are able to express as their heart’s desire. Even if they want something we don’t, even if they want something that may not be what they expect, even if they want something that we find little value in, if THEY matter to us, and we CARE about them, we want them to have what they have asked for.

How many of you are taking this to heart the day before Christmas Eve? Are you buying her an expensive gift card at a Spa because it’s easier but will cost you dearly, when she just wants you to choose a pretty little pair of earrings that will remind her of you? Are you buying others what you wish you were receiving? That’s only going to make you happy for a few minutes ( during the selection and purchase). Are you really in tune with what matters to those in your life and what they really want?

This year I asked for small items or consummable goods when people asked me “what do you want for Christmas?” I could justify and rationalize that since I travel a lot and have little storage space, small items like jewelry or a music CD would not be hard to make room for and would be something I enjoy. I could easily explain why consummable items would come in handy- who doesn’t need a nice box of Brazil nuts ( my favorites) or some lovely organic goat soap from the local farmers? When I receive any gift, I am very grateful. Giving is a pleasure to both the giver and the recipient.

But, if I had been writing my letter to Santa and Santa had read it, I wonder if it would have been as practical and easy to find? And, who would it really matter to? Who cares enough to sit with me and hear what I really want — today, in two days at Christmas or everyday in the foreseeable future? Find that person and tell them. Tell them what matters to you, if they care to know. Don’t hesitate and don’t put limits on what you want. How else can Santa really show up with the surprises he has in store for you??

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags.And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more…

From ” How the Grinch Stole Christmas”?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbL4NeY4y7o&feature=related

“The great man is he who does not lose his childlike heart.”
– Mencius

The ancient Chinese sage, philosophical heir to Confucius, believed that people are born good, but are influenced by society to become otherwise. In The Book of Mencius, he reminds us that our goal in life should be to return to that innate moral sense.

So, I leave you with my desire for Christmas: Angel wings & Friends.

Like George Bailey somedays, and like Mary on others; to go to Italy with leather luggage with my name inscribed, to sail on a boat,to have adventures and then come home to what I want to live for, to make up my mind and have all the chocolate poured by him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or-f0vSjbW4&feature=related

“George Bailey, I’ll love you til the day I die”. ( you know who you are)

“A toast, to my big brother George, the richest man in town.”

“No man is a failure who has friends”.

From, my all time favorite Christmas movie- “Its a Wonderful Life”!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQiWM11t_AA&feature=related

 Christmas 2011 Flotilla- You matter and what you like matters to those who care for you. Spend more time with them, in 2012.