Time as a concept

Ben is having a hard time understanding when Christmas is coming. This isn't surprising given his age and the lack of ability to understand time. This morning we got a small snow gust....snow mixed with a big wind that lasted about 10 minutes and did not result in snow landing on the ground. Ben was so happy to see the snow, it was really adorable. But it also promted a lot of questions. Such as, "Does this mean Christmas is today?" So we talked about Christmas again, and that it's a few weeks away and what our plans our etc. This seem to satisfy Ben for a little while but I'm awaiting more questions this afternoon after his nap.

I do feel sorry for him and other kids his age in a way. The whole concept of Christmas must be very confusing for them. There are signs up everywhere wishing people Happy Holidays, every add on TV is promoting the best gift to get whomever you need to get a gift for, holiday sales, houses covered in lights (our street has a great display) and of course the classic holiday movies on in the evenings. So it's really no surprise that Ben asks if it's Christmas every day, because when you look around, it really could be. I'm thankful it's not as I still have plenty of shopping and crafting for holiday gifts to be done. But I know it will be here soon enough and then gone faster than we can imagine. Each year I'm blown away at how quickly retail shops get the holiday stuff on display and start pushing people to buy. It usually starts the second week in October now- before Halloween is even here they have moved most of it to the back of the store to make room for Christmas lights and ornaments and those huge inflatable snowmen for the lawn. Then, on the 26th all the holiday merchandise becomes the ugly stepchild of the local Target or Wal Mart and Valentine's starts covering the store in reds and pinks. This year, as is my hope most years, at our home we're going to try to enjoy the holiday a little longer, just to be thankful that we have it. Not to rush through the big dates in the year and in our lives, but to just relax and enjoy the time at home with each other. I realize "enjoy" may translate into pulling a three year old wound on cookies and new toys off the ceiling while trying to nurse an overtired 3 month old, but hey that comes with the territory.

On a totally separate yet somewhat related note, I have reconnected with an old friend recently and that got me thinking about the concept of time as well. It's both strange and comforting how time can change things in a number of ways and yet not alter them so much that we do not recognize them. It's been years since we had really talked and in that time we've both experienced so much; living in different states, traveling to various places, I have two children, she's preparing for a lifechanging move. It seemed a bit surreal at first, to be talking about such important things in the same room where we had worried about our crushes noticing us in high school and yet it felt very natural, like time hadn't really changed us at all. The things that we all may worry about and get excited about change as we age and our worlds expand and we grow along with it, but the people we are inside don't alter that much. I find it so encouraging that while I get to see Ben through his anticipation of Christmas and so many other events awaiting him I too have many wonderful things to anticipate and great friends to share them with. I hope that both of my boys are happy in life and find good friends that they can always connect with.