Christmas Treasures by Liesel Schmidt

Christmas Treasures

by Liesel Schmidt

It’s amazing to look at the calendar and realize just how close the holidays are. It’s a bit

overwhelming, actually, how little time is left between now and the end of the year, with so

much still to do before the actual day arrives and Christmas paper is strewn about in memorial

to the feeling of anticipation that was once so neatly boxed and wrapped up and stowed

under the tree. Growing up, Christmas was always so magical, so special even on our tight

household budget. Those were days when the sights and sounds and smells seemed to hold such

unexplainable delight, such rich joy. What treasures awaited this year?

It’s a sentiment worth keeping, a question that should remain in our minds from the very first day

of the year to the very last: What treasures await this year?

As I grow older, that question is no longer asked in simple hopes of bits and baubles, but of

hopes for my life. I’d like to think that I grow wiser, more appreciative of what treasures I

already have, more open to receiving the ones to come. I’d like to think that I won’t be blind to

them so that they won’t pass by without my notice. Most of all, I hope that the treasures I give

outnumber the ones I receive. So many times we have our hands and our eyes tightly closed,

fearful of what opening them might mean, what hurt may come once we let go.

I’ve become more aware over the past few years that, just as moments and unexpected

opportunities and blessings are treasures, so are the people in our lives. They are our treasures,

special and priceless in their own ways, ways that no one else can be. And just as we treasure

them, they treasure us. There’s a preciousness in each of us, one that we so often forget in the

busy bustle of everyday life. We lose our wonder and our joy and our anticipation. We lose sight

of the fact that we are treasures, just as we forget that the people in our lives are to be treasured.

We devalue the goodness and the gifts and allow ourselves to be swept up in cynicism and focus

instead on being bigger, better, faster, richer. We’d do well to take the time and realize what

we’ve lost––so easily seen in the dancing eyes of a child as they gaze at the glow of a Christmas

tree. There are treasures all around us, and there are still more to come.

What treasures await this year?