Day Twenty - Peace

 I'm sure most will agree...these last few days before Christmas are anything but peaceful. I could feel my inner Grinch itching to take over as I toted teen #2 back up to the mall for the fourth time this week. I was  tired of shopping and all that comes with it...the crowds, the lack of parking spaces, and the constant request for my e-mail address every time we purchased something.

 

Returning home provided little relief either...dishes in the sink, presents to be wrapped, and now child #3 needed a Yankee swap gift for tomorrow. There was no escape except perhaps...

 

 ...in the pages of a book. I went directly for Gladys Taber because where better to find some peace than by visiting her Stillmeadow country home. I headed right to December.

 

 I read about the smell of her Christmas tree, the pleasure of hosting a small buffet with friends, and then, her musings on the fact that the holiday had become "too commercial" and that it had lost the simplicity of earlier years.

 

Considering she wrote this in 1953 I'm beginning to wonder when, if ever, the celebration of  Christmas was simple? Perchance it never was...at least where

the females of our species are concerned!