the perfect scent of pine

this year..... 

i want the "little" back in Christmas....

tiny crystal lights strung together

 like a chain of softly uttered prayers 

offered humbly

over the top of this cluttered world. 

 just a simple white rosary of lights, 

that no one puts away when the holidays are over. 

little.......like the moment 

when all the crowded cost co isles slipped from view, 

as I heard an older couple 

singing a familiar Christmas carol

on a karaoke machine. 

soft and reverent, their paper thin voices rained

over the sound system 

as gently and fragile as an unexpected snow. 

suddenly i was five,

sitting in church between my brother and parents,

as the voices of the elders broke my heart

 the way you want

your heart to be broken.

I want those long ago  footsteps of my small son 

sneaking down the stairs way too early on Christmas morning, 

when the sheer delight of possibilities  

was enough

to take his breath away. 

and that little note he left for Santa

beside a generous plate of just baked gingerbread cookies. 

Dear Santa, 

Please share the cookies with your reindeer. And could you please find

the missing key to my treasure chest and leave it under our Christmas 

tree so I know you are real?

Love, 

 Adrian

i remember

when a worn brass key 

hardly the size of the first snow flakes of winter 

could keep the magic of believing alive. 

i spent most of that night

desperately 

searching 

for the key that would open his treasure chest. 

and as fate would have it......i did!

i left it on the plate 

with a few less gingerbread cookies. 

in the morning it was adrian's first destination. 

he gripped that tiny key in relief and wonder.

i don't remember how many years past

until i knelt before that old trunk 

grandmother had given to me

 when i was a child....

and so many years later,

i to him. 

 S l o w l y

i placed the familiar key in the old lock

and gave it a careful turn. 

it was a hot summer day

and what met me was the faint,  

perfect smell of Christmas. 

stacked to the top... 

silently waited

 a humble collection of frail little branches 

retrieved from each hallowed pine

 of all our holidays together. 

always the last vestige of Christmas

 to be taken down and

adrian's most difficult to release....

carefully 

without notice

he had kept a remnant of each beloved tree.

 

may the smallest most tender

memories of Christmas 

tie our hearts to both seen and unseen miracles. 

may all the disparate shards of life knit themselves together 

under a pure silent blanket of snow. 

and just for a few white hours, 

before scads of new sleds and brightly bundled kids 

weave their spirited footsteps 

across the soft horizon 

let our world be transformed.

as my husband and countless others 

clamour for a little more time, 

as our grown son longs for different "little" things 

i hear that couple singing....

have yourself a merry little christmas, 

let your heart be light..........

 

i smell the perfect scent of pine.

and send this simple hope...

that a soft snow will fall 

forgiving all our short comings 

and deliver us pure white

to the waiting new year.   

......that some small forgotten memory 

will fill each heart

with a surge of love and wonder, 

that no one puts away when the holidays are over.

my son adrian...with his sweet bree after making their 

very first snowman together. love the long stick arms...

long enough to embrace a world of 

JOY

may joy embrace you...

Comments

[lyle baxter]

a lovely collection of christmas memories! thank you. enjoy your family and friends.

[Meri]

This is most tenderly magical. What a miracle the key allowed itself to be found, to augment a little boy's faith. Love to you, my dear friend, and give Billy Bad-Ass a kiss from me in appreciation of his mischief-making. He's a good man for a great woman.

[Sue fox]

I was thinking of you this morning as yet more snow descended upon this little cottage!

I thought how your words were like a warm winter blanket, wrapped around my heart, feeling so comforted.

As ever your gift of words makes my day beautiful thank you,

Sue x

[Spadoman]

Thank you for this blessing, as your story truly is a blessing to us all. Memories are special no matter whatbthe occasion, but to sigh that magical sigh of peace from Christmas past is the best. I too wrote a memory and posted today. Yes, another ploy to get you to go to my place as I have a story to tell and I want to tell it to you, like wew're sitting, having tea, and friends are together, talking, remembering and visiting during this peacful time, this cosmic time the day after the Solstice, Full Moon and Lunar Eclipse gave us the Universe to watch and feel.
Thank you for the wonderful story of a little episode of your life.

Peace.

[Leslie]

I LOVED the story about Adrian and his treasure box filled with Christmas tree branches. Such a wonderful memory...

[gemma]

I know that scent of pine that lingers. Ponderosa Pine perhaps? Prescott was our home for a number of years. So nice to meet you.
Now I send you and yours seasons greetings and blessings from the nearby Arizona desert.
A similar picture of me,my son,and a snowman is in his scrapbook.

[Stephanie]

oh my dear,
this is the most touching walk down that most ephemeral memory lane. Those sweet moments that come to you on the scent of pine.

x..x
steph
p.s.

is this beautiful snow in your world?

[glorv1]

Rebecca, that was truly beautiful. I could smell the scent when you opened the box. It's amazing how scent just takes us back to times gone by. It's times like this that I want to open a box where I have my son's cologne, drawings, and personal items that have given me special memories.I won't though, not right now. I know the feeling that you are describing. God Bless you and yours and may you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! Beautiful post and it will stay with me all day long.

[Fran aka Redondowriter]

I was photographing all my Christmas memorabilia this morning, melting into memories, and then I read your blog. This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen written about Christmas. The accompanying photos are exquisite, too. Have a beautiful Christmas.

[LadyCat]

This is magical! I actually got chills when you said you found the key to the treasure box. St. Anthony must have been helping you : )
Have a wonderful Christams!

[Inger-Marie Sæverud]

What a lovely post and beautiful photos!
Have a wonderful Christmas :-)

[Magical Mystical Teacher]

Christmas memory:
lost key found, lost scent revived,
lost childhood restored.

[Ms. Moon]

What a beautiful wish. What a beautiful memory.
Thank-you.

[abi Monroe]

Dear Rebecca.
My Christmas wish is to be able to write so magically as you do.
I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and new year, my very special friend.
XX

[David]

Your pictures and words are so soothing they give me peace at a time when our country is in such a mess. I look at our generation as the people who found peace love and enlightenment. Where did we take the wrong turn? Hopefully blog like this one will regain our sanity back. Remember our past add look and see if we can love each other again. Have a heart for all people even a kidney. God bless you Rebecca and family. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

[Maija Lepore]

And you dear REbecca....

[bethany]

oh rebecca, this is so so beautiful. i love it all. love your writing, your beautiful, tender heart, your memories, you searching for that key and the branches, wow!
gosh this moved me so much.
thank you.
love love love you.

[abi Monroe]

Everyone loves you, and I know why :O)

ps. there is plenty of fabric, but glue and pins aren't going to work on a human dress... if you 'get' what I mean!!!
LOL
XXXX

[Karen Gerstenberger]

Thank you for this beautiful story of wonder and love. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

[annie]

Good morning, Rebecca. Lyrical. Pure music. And it's not just a memory. It's any on-going story filled with love with many more chapters to come. Merry Christmas, Annie

[deb taylor]

this story of HUGE little memories is so lovely, I can smell the scent of pine, hear those little Adrian footsteps and old couples singing karaoke carols. I am lifted with JOY when I come here to read you. You amaze me, my sweet friend. Come visit my JOY in a golden field of rust, denim and a little bit of lust

[Noelle]

Dearest Rebecca,
I feel that I have been with you in this journey of Christmas memory. It is a deeply sacred journey, filled with memories of a child's faith in the arrival of a good and benevolent being and his trust in the presence of a key that unlocked the redolent secrets of his precious soul. Your description of the frail voices of the elderly people reminds me of the story of a child's christmas in Wales and the frail thin lonely voice that is heard singing a Christmas Carol behind the door as the children run from a house where no one visits out of fear of reprisal. Christmas is a time of transformation and forgiveness. A time of hope and renewal. I pray that for all of us and our world. Thank you for the beauty and Joy you offer us now and always. Merry Christmas.

[deb @ talk at the table]

there really aren't words sometimes.

I can't begin to thank you for shining your sacred light on me, Rebecca. I am forever changed and forever grateful..

Be embraced in love and health and peace this holiday season.

[Deborah]

I so love this story and know exactly how Adrian feels. Each tree is like an old friend, so difficult to say goodbye. How sweet to save a small memento of each throughout the years - a prayer for what was and a blessing for what will yet be. Treasures of the soul, saved by a tender heart.

Deb

[Molokai Girl]

Always bringing tears to my eyes and taking my breath away. What an incredible story-now, THAT is the treasure!

(heart) Paula

[Judy A Goddard]

This is exquisite! And soft and quiet and moving.

Thank you.

[Priti.Lisa]

Rebecca!
What a joy to see and read you again!
The most beautiful post I've read all year...or ever.
Here's to the New Year XoX

[Elizabeth]

I missed this post, somehow, but am crying over it now. It's so beautiful, Rebecca -- your son, what you did for your son, all of it.

Thank you --