The Magic of Christmas

It was a fantastically windy afternoon, rain starting, a storm was moving in, and I was standing at the upper dry lot calling out for Bodie and Pinkie who had set off on an unsanctioned tour of the neighboring ranch.

I was wearing ear muffs and my hood pulled overhead, and yelled louder just to hear myself. My calls went unheard, carried away in the opposite direction by the wind.

I stopped calling and fretting for a moment. All was silent, and muffled, just the wind whistling through the needles of the pine trees and the berries of the junipers.

I turned and there she was. A big momma deer was standing at the fence inside the dry lot. She looked at me as if to ask if she would be okay jumping over the fence and continuing on her journey. I smiled and said nothing.

Like magic she lifted herself up and over the fence. There was no running start, no grunt as she launched herself over, no exhalation or loud thump as she hit the ground and no sound of a push as she skipped off.

She just rose, tucked her legs under her earth colored plump body, glided over the top of the 4' fence and landed, without a sound.

Was I momentarily deaf?

It was poetic in every sense. It was a cartoon rendition, a claymation skit, a hand drawn illustration, a dream we've all had, wrapped in one.

My jaw dropped at the vision, the silence, the tranquility, the grace, the magic powder she used to fly like that.

Maybe that is what the magic of Christmas is.

It's beauty, peace, love, kindness, humility and joy. We don't have to search hard for it. If we stand still, be quiet, breathe deeply, open our eyes, open our hearts, the magic will come to us and unfold.

Joy to the World

I'm a pretty regular looker of craigslist these days keeping an eye out for smoking deals on ranch necessities. One could interpret that as looking for another horse.

Lately I've been looking at the "Wanted" section. I never knew this section existed. But you know what they say, one person's no longer needed is another's treasure.

There I found an extremely well written posting by this woman asking for any returnables: bottles and cans. She explained that her husband had lost his job, at no fault of his own, and this was the first time that they may not be able to make their mortgage payment. They have children and are struggling to make ends meet.

I told Larry about this posting and reminded him about his healthy growing collection of bags of returnables, a collection he improves upon daily. He organizes the bags by product, counts them out 50 per bag and even writes "50" on the outside. We decided this family could really benefit from his organizational talent.

Katie called me back and we made arrangements to drive the bags to her house that evening. The back of the pick up truck was full, full, of bulging bags, not really like Santa's sleigh but you could stretch your imagination.

The tall Ponderosa pine in front of Katie's house was thoughtfully strung with lights, probably the same as years before, like nothing was different. Their picture window was decorated in children's art work, reminding us to hope and dream.

Out came Katie, expecting another child, carrying a little bag of her own.

We stacked 12 bags of returnables in front of her garage. She thanked us endlessly and gave me the little bag. "Merry Christmas!" she said.

Katie baked us cookies, gave us a bottle of her home-made strawberry jam bottled just last month, and included a hand-made card that read JOY.

This is the perfect Christmas gift.

Happy Holidays

I say it. I say "Happy Holidays!"

Back when I was in my early 20s, there was a year that unique hand-made ornaments were the gifts I sought out for my friends for Christmas. I looked for weeks for the perfect ornament for each friend.

I had recently met a new friend, Suzanne. I admired her very much, as i still do, and was looking forward to giving her one of my carefully mined gifts. I went to her cozy apartment in Brookline one night and found her simple decorative lights charming and tasteful. No signs of wreaths or stockings or Santa wrapping paper though.

Suzanne opened her gift with grace and appreciation. She marveled at the delicate intricacy of the ornament, admired it for its artistic value. Politely she noted that she doesn't have a Christmas tree. Huh.

She had never had a Christmas tree; why would she? She was raised in the Jewish faith. Suzanne found a safe place on a shelf to mount the ornament that had no flat foundation, after all, it was meant to hang on a Christmas tree.

Needless to say, the Merry Christmas card which accompanied the ornament was a little out of place too.

From this year on, I became aware of the fact that not everyone celebrated Christmas. Obvious as it may seem now, 20 some odd years ago I didn't have too many friends outside of gentiles. I made a point to find cards that read something other than Merry Christmas.

Then Glenn married Rene and although they have agreed to have a tree in the house, it is not for the "Christmas" reason but for the beauty and elegance of a family decorated tree.

Stacey married Scott. And the list has grown.

Everyone has a right to celebrate something this time of year, be it a recognized holiday or holy day or just to celebrate the fact that consumerism is at its peak right about now and you can get some pretty great shopping done regardless of faith or practice.

My take is this: unless you are at work in a public office where church and state are in fact to be separate, say what it is you want to say during this season.

When you send your greeting out to someone, say it with the practice of Dana in mind. Dana is unconditional generosity or giving; it's a Buddhist practice of seeking nothing in return. This is believed to lead to greater spiritual wealth.

So instead of waiting for someone to trip up and not respond the way you are expecting them to, do not expect. Just send your greeting out with all the love, compassion, sincerity and the biggest smile you can muster. And that should feel pretty good.

The Universe Rules

It was a trying day on the ranch today. One of the horses had what we think was a seizure and another has been acting "off." These kinds of things can really drain your energy and get your heart racing.

But, sitting on the other side of the rainbow was an overflowing pot of happy gold!

Last night I was perusing the craigslist for sale listings in farm and garden (of course, what else?) and saw the heading "Missing Red Aussi/Heeler."

As you might imagine, I pulled up the listing and saw the most adorable face on the photo staring back at me. He looked just like Pinkie, my new Australian Shepherd/Heeler mix.

The family had just moved to a new home only a couple of miles from us. The dog was out playing with the kids and for some reason ran off. The kids followed him for a mile and lost him. The number on the dog's tag was their old number, not yet transferred to the new house, so they listed their cell phone numbers on the craigslist posting.

Frankly I don't know what's happening to me, but these animals are just tugging all lengths of my heart strings.

I started asking the universe, "Please bring this dog to me or send him to someone who read the same listing." I asked several times last night and again today "please" "please" "please."

I was just telling Brian, our eternal contractor, about this dog and said, "I just hope to look out and see him coming up the driveway."

Moments later, I came in the house and before I could take my coat off, Larry was telling me about this sweet dog "that looks just like Pinkie!" that our friends April and Richard have. "What dog?!" "They found a dog in their hay barn and he looks just like Pinkie."

I brought up the photo on craigslist and showed Larry, "Is this him?" "Yes, that's the dog they have."

My heart was racing, my coat still on, hat still on, and I called April and left her a message, "I know who the owner is!"

Because April was out at an appointment and Larry said there was no one at the telephone number that April called (as I explained) I just could not wait, I had to call the cell number in the posting.

Rayna was ecstatic. As it turns out Mity was only a half mile or so from his house. Rayna went to collect him an hour ago and although April had already decided she could keep this dog (along with her other 3 dogs and 5 cats and 25+ alpacas) Mity and Rayna were joyfully reunited.

Mity didn't come to me directly but he went where he knew he'd be found: April's (Informal) Animal Rescue.

You see, the universe does listen and she delivers. She rules!