These Gifts We Bring

Wishes for a bright and blessed Christmas

I’m not sure how many thousand times I’ve heard “The Little Drummer Boy.“  Mostly it’s been in elevators, on car radios and in commercials on television. It never seemed the equal of the great Christmas hymns or the classic Christmas songs like “White Christmas.“ It wasn’t quite “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,“ but I always felt there was something second-rate about it, as much as I kept time to the rum-pa-pum-pum.

My feelings had a complete turnaround on Friday night. I had the privilege of being at a wonderful concert at Lincoln Center, with the New York Philharmonic and one of my favorite singers, Brian Stokes Mitchell. The high point of the evening was yes, “The Little Drummer Boy,” and I no longer think of it as second rate.  The phrase that spoke to me was “these gifts we bring.“ I’d heard it thousands of times, but this was the first time I really heard it.

I’ve spent the last few days thinking about what gifts I can bring to the world, a topic for a later and longer post. But I’ve also spent time thinking about the gifts you all have brought to me, especially the gift of friendship.  If any among you think you have no gifts to bring, think again and again, for you would be sorely wrong. Thank you all for these gifts you bring.  I have been so richly blessed.

For the next week I am on a blog vacation. You might see a picture or two, but it's time to step off the merry-go-round for a little while and catch my breath. I will be back on January 1, 2014 with my perfect word for 2014. My wishes for a bright and blessed Christmas, a week of calm and fun, and a glad new year.