We celebrate Christmas in our house. There is glitter. Everywhere. Our normal subscription to blues and creams is upended by greens and reds. Everywhere. There is not a doorknob, window sash lock, mantle, chandelier, flat surface or wall space left unadorned without something that sparkles, blinks, or festively delights. The chipped Santa candy dish, though lacking a nose and half a cherry red cheek, is lovingly filled with peppermints and the threadbare, ten-year-old, Santa hat moves around, head to head, decorating, even, us people. I have sought a level of sweeter sophistication but am quickly and regularly reminded that Christmas is not a “less is more” endeavor.
In fact, I think my youngest still believes. Or, at the very least, holds onto the cosmic magic that even I, after all these years of late-night wrapping, stocking filling, gift hiding, tiptoeing around children nestled all snug in their beds (nestling negotiable until at least 2:00 AM) exhaustion, still sense in the hush of the moonlight on the frosted lawn late Christmas Eve.
My son, and perhaps I, opt to stand at the edge of what we know. For what would it be to give into pragmatic wisdom? What is the cost to bear, selling out on imagination that leaves you literally breathless with anticipation? What threshold must we be willing to cross that would strip away a happiness knowing we couldn’t ever go back? You know what? Never mind. Magic it is.
I guess maybe 2021 has us all standing on the edge of what we know. And in equal sense I wonder if we too find ourselves inquiring about what we might lose if we must succumb to the pragmatism that may seem called for by what 2021 revealed. Yet unlike the sense of loss my son anticipates — the kind you can’t come back from –– 2022 is before us, gently holding onto the innocence of it’s yet-to-be-determined self. 2022 is vast and deep. Crisp and austere. Untainted. Perhaps, then, we might allow it to receive us in the same vein.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting we leave what we have come to know behind. But I do love the notion of a clean slate, a chance to re-set, with intention. I do love the idea that in the waning daylight of 2021, when the worries of the year have mounted to a clamoring crescendo, that we might stop to strip away some of the noise and useless burden. That we might gather the threads of only our deepest work and intention and tie those to the dreams we have for the New Year.
For us at FH Perry Builder, it seems, we continue to believe in the love that fuels every human heart. It is why we do the work we do all year long; to house your heart in safety and beauty so you can go out into the world and spread your magic with intention. So, along with all that we have learned this past year, I think this is the essence of what we will seek to carry over onto the clean slate of 2022. This feels, at least, a good place to start.
May all be calm and bright.
Wishing you a very happy New Year.
Allison
