Lights....Stars and Hearts

  This evening as I was turning off the many Christmas lights that bedazzle the Little Bayou House, I stopped to marvel at the little tin stars that dangle beneath the mantle.  The three inch metal stars have been at the place for so long that I have forgotten just where I got them.  Probably, they were just a whim purchase many years ago when the kids were mere tykes.  Back then, I would squirrel away a few pennies to buy some cheap little pieces to please the children.  Over the years, those dime-store things have become quite collectible and are now worth a lot more than what I spent on them.  It does not matter. The point of buying the knickknacks was to bring wonder to the eyes of the kids.  Even though at that time Mark and I scrounged to make ends meet, I could not let that wonder die.  Kids need to be enthralled over things even if those things are homemade or inexpensive.  Not everything is about money.  It is about life and all of the wonderment that can be jammed into it.  It was my intention to make the kids' imaginations literally explode with excitement and curiosity. Christmas was a perfect time to do just that.  With money short at times, there had to be ways to dodge the razzle-dazzle and focus on the spirit behind the season.  

  This evening before flipping the switch on the star lights, a flood of memories came back to haunt the brain.  Memories of sitting by the fireside creating folded paper angels to bring to the hospital for the nurses there.  Memories of baking marathons to supply the entire neighborhood of elderly folks with cookies. Memories of singing carols while we looked at Christmas lights decorating the yards and houses of others.  Memories of placing Baby Jesus in the manger on Christmas Eve after hanging the stockings from the mantle.  Memories...memories of happy times.  And you know what?  It is those little things that my kids still talk about to this day even though they are all now adults.  Those things are their memories as well.

  When I took the photograph of the little stars, only one came out clear.  All of the "just in case" photos were slightly blurred to the point that the dots of light came out looking like little hearts.  That is what it is all about, folks.  That little heart that glows in us all.  The love shared with others is what it is all about.