It is no secret that I, Phil Bean, am a fan of Christmas and the whole holiday season.  I enjoy the sights, the sounds, the smells, and all the feels that come along with this time of year.  Bring me snow, bring me egg nog and, yes, you can even bring me Mariah Carey through the speakers; hate on that all you want, but for those who wish to complain that her song is too repetitive, I challenge you to present me with a holiday tune that isn’t.  Yes, once we hit mid-November, I have no objection to injecting the red, white and green of it all into my daily life.  Yet, for all of the joy I get in the build-up and anticipation for “the big day”, there is actually another time that strikes me and fills my cup in a completely different, yet equally elated way than December 25th.  It is fleeting, it never occurs on the same day or time each year, and yet for me it encapsulates everything I look forward to during the holidays.  It is the hours in which the time between work ends and starts again is at its greatest expanse.  It is a time when everything stops.

This year, for me, that moment occurred on a Friday, which means there is a particularly special anticipation as the work week drew to its natural close.  It also meant that would be a bonus period for how long I get to step back from the day to day without booking additional time off.  For that I am grateful and I will also acknowledge that I am privilaged to get to enjoy this moment in time.  My profession, position and circumstances in my life allow for it.  That does not mean it happens for everyone.  Though I do wish for all who live and breathe on this earth, be it today, tomorrow, or some time next year, to be awarded even a moment’s reprieve to not have to worry.

With my bonus days this year, not much has been planned, which is really the point, isn’t it? Sure, there will be times of hustle and bustle which are equal parts exciting, fun, and stressful, but by and large, the goal is to enjoy the time as it occurs.  But I shouldn’t get too far ahead of myself here, the focus of this is not the in what’s about to come, but rather sitting in the magical minutes and, if lucky, the hours which present themselves as I walk through the door Friday evening, likely to pour myself some form of amber liquid, and sit by the fire to read a story or seventeen to my loving and attentive kids.  I know full-well that these opportunities won’t be around forever, and that they will evolve to something altogether favourable in their own right, but for now, well, for now this is beautiful.

This moment to me is like a perfect snowflake floating to the ground – to try and grab it to examine and study it would also mean to see it disappear before it could fully be appreciated.  Letting it be and fall naturally to its place on earth, however, allows it to last longer, be what it’s meant to be and slows me down as I observe it dance across the wind.  To change that course in any way is to miss out entirely.   It needs to be savoured in order to exist.

And with that in mind, I feel this post can be forgiven for being shorter; it is, after all, now Christmas Eve.  However this day finds you, I wish you and yours every bit of magic, love and wonder, and I also wish for you to find the moments of your own in which to simply sit, and simply enjoy.

Merry Christmas, to all.