How the Diva Stole Christmas…

  To get in the spirit of Christmas this year, I thought I’d get a little job selling something I enjoy at the nearest shopping mall. I am a child of the age of the suburban mall. When I think of happy holidays I picture fake Santa’s, sparkley mall trees, piped in holiday muzak and, of course, fighting for parking spaces, standing on line and cranky overtired children.

And despite my enthusiastic embracing of all things that delight including, yes, material things, it is not about the gifts. There never seemed to be that one perfect gift that marked the holiday as special – although I have received many, many delightful ones – including a lovely red leather satchel presented 2 months early this year!

Rather there are the memories… of two rooms full of toys for my brothers and sisters, of my exhausted parents huddled on the stairs trying like hell to enjoy the chaos, the middle- of-the-night arrival of my Nana who claimed each year she hitched a ride with Santa, the honey rosette cookies, a big feast, and my mother breaking from her reserved nature and banging out O Holy Night on our out-of-tune apartment grand.

There is the first year my husband and I shared a Christmas. He gave me a name necklace on the neck of a teddy bear buried in our 5-foot tree in our 100 square foot living room. The year we joined two of my sisters and went to Disney World, the year my daughter and husband and I went to Hawaii and the year we showed up on my parents doorstep on Christmas day having made the trek from NY to Macon, Georgia.

These are the moments of Christmas for me… the diva, divine, inspiring days of winter’s past. I wish for you just such a Diva holiday this year. One where you do what you want, decorate or not, stay home or travel, buy a lot or nothing at all, find someone to love with abandon, sing offbeat or with trained enthusiasm and most of all, give with your whole heart.