Simple Christmas pleasures brought to you by my Hipstamatic iPhone app.

As a child I wished every day was like Christmas.

Enchanted by the magic of tinsel and toys, it was always my favorite time of year, and the tree served as a joyful focal point: I never tired of gazing at it.  A nightly ritual at my house was lighting the tree–well, plugging it in.  I’d then spend a good ten minutes–an eternity for a kid–marveling at what my family and I had decorated.  The holidays were never completely perfect, but, as far as I was concerned, the tree could do no wrong.

While I’m older now and have a much less idealized view of the season in general, I feel fortunate that my boyhood wish has mostly come true.  Life has its ups and downs, but I try to make the most of them.  I’m not completely broke.  I’m not starving.  I still find time for some art.

Every day gives a gift.  Even if it’s small, I try to always be thankful.

And I still practice my mini-evergreen meditations.  Here’s a little poem commemorating the evolution of Christmas in my life.  It’s not much, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

_____

Tannenbaum

Today’s plastic tree:

neither sorrows

nor tidings

of great joy glow

from its adornment,

but the sap of electrons

flow vital through

able, outstretched limbs

giving ordinary light.