Becky Says...

December 2006

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An Ornament - December 16

Okay, it's the day before the Third Sunday in Advent, and according to the Frank Perry Rule, you may now put up your Christmas decorations. Because it's Chapel Hill and the students who attend church may well not be here for Christmas. Otherwise, he'd probably advocate for waiting a few more days.

So who's he to make rules? He's the former pastor of the local Lutheran parish. And he really only had rule-making authority over when that parish decorated the church building, but it sounded good to me so I adopted it for personal use.

And no, I haven't started decorating.

But I'm going to show you a very important ornament.

Merry Christmas

It's one that conveniently has a pipe cleaner attached to its back, and goes in a special place each year, on the louvers of the utility closet door across from my bedroom. It's the first ornament I see each day, and I love it. The picture is from several years ago.

This one is so important because it could very well represent something ugly. Instead, it represents something ugly washed away by forgiveness. I created the ugly, and I asked for and received the forgiveness.

Back in November 1982 my mother came up to visit for my birthday. I arranged to take the day off, and among other things we went shopping. Mother liked shopping a lot more than I ever have, and she was, after all, in stores unfamiliar to her. And I got impatient at what I perceived as her dawdling. I was none too kind about it.

Only she wasn't dawdling. She was checking the displays of Christmas-themed merchandise, to get some things for friends, something new for herself, and something for me. And she couldn't say so, because that would ruin the surprise of adding a Christmas ornament to my birthday gift.

So she brought it to my attention that I was being rude. Not that calmly, mind you. But I got the point and shut up. I did, after we left the store, apologize for my impatience. We got past it. Later in the day, when it was time to open my gift, there was a small extra package. In it was the "Merry Christmas."

I did apologize to Mother again, since I actually knew by then what it was I had almost ruined for her. She knew I already had some Christmas ornaments, but she wanted to make sure there was one bought just for me and just for this apartment, from her.

And every year, when I take it out to hang on the door, I think of her and thank her again. Both for the ornament and for the forgiveness.


Text and photograph © copyright 2000-2006 Becky

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