Together Again

Every year I search the shops for a pair of perfect ornaments to slip into my children's stockings.  They know they are getting one every year, it is not a surprise exactly.  Some years they are the same ornament, different colors.  Some years a child has asked for a specific ornament, such as a treble clef, and the other child has not wanted a musically inclined ornament, so those years have been completely different.

But my favorite pair is Santa and Mrs Claus.  Santa belongs to my son, Mrs. Claus to my daughter, and more often than not, when hung on the tree they are far, far apart.  I don't think my kids view them as a set, a matched pair, a couple, so they get hung wherever there is a spot.

This is the first year that the kids did not hang every ornament in their box.  The food table beckoned, the music was good, Dad was telling funny stories, and Mom was filling the tree with every single ornament in her boxes, making it hard to find a good spot for anyone else.  (So my family says....somehow, I always can find a spot!)  I asked if I could hang some of their ornaments myself, and when the answer was yes, I knew which two I wanted.

Santa and Mrs Claus are together again, and I'll be honest, they are my favorite thing to look at while I sit in the living room, sipping coffee, listening to Christmas music, with the glow of the tree lights making the room feel delightfully warm and cozy.

I remember I was shopping with my Mom, saw those two ornaments and knew they were the ones I wanted.  I remember looking at them hanging separately all these years, slightly wishing I was the kind of Christmas tree decorating mother that moved ornaments to the spot I deemed acceptable, instead of the the kind that has let the kids ornaments hang where they were first hung.

I tried to imagine the year, years from now, when Santa and Mrs Claus won't be part of my tree, but will be part of my grown up children's trees......and I decided I don't have time for that.  I have time to enjoy this moment, this here and now, this viewing of Santa and Mrs Claus, and this time is very good.