Gratitude, Expectation, and the Not-Skis

I am tickled pink—bright, brilliant fuschia, actually—to introduce you to my first guest poster ever. Her name is Alexis Helmrath, and she is cute, witty, and just downright adorable, in addition to being a great writer.

Alexis shares her creative masterpieces and disasters at Crafty Sheep, a one-stop shop for cute cat pictures, knitting and embroidery projects, and crafty inspiration. Join her for the monthly Color Challenge to expand your creative comfort zone, or hop on over to Facebook to say hello!

In honor of the holiday, Alexis is sharing a story on gifts, gratitude, and expectations from a long ago Christmas Eve.

Growing up, my family experienced times when money was tight. My parents have always been extremely resourceful, however, and our Christmases never felt like they were lacking anything.

When I was around ten years old, my dad decided to make one of our bigger presents.

Since our family was a little short on disposable income and long on talent, he crafted and hand-painted a pair of stilts each for me and my sister.

Classic gift, right? Fun, challenging, got us out of the house – we must have loved them!

Well…eventually.

In the wee hours of Christmas morning, my sister and I crept downstairs to do a preliminary survey of what lay under the tree. And there, leaning against the wall and covered in a big bow, were two pairs of — ZOMG WE GOT SKIS!!!!!!!

We raced back upstairs and slept not one minute more.

Who could sleep at a time like this? We got skis!

When the cold, hard light of the morning revealed that we did not, in fact, get skis. . . well, I’m ashamed to say that we were less than grateful. There may have even been tears.

We did come to love the stilts. But in the moment, we were so fixated on the idea of skis that we didn’t leave room for any other possibilities.

There was no space for surprise, wonder, glee, and certainly not gratitude.

If my sister and I had either stayed in bed like we were supposed to (ha, yeah right!) or glanced at the stilts for more than three seconds, we would have seen them for what they were – a really cool gift that my dad put a lot of time, effort, and love into.

But instead, we caused ourselves (and our dad!) a lot of unnecessary distress.

Today I’m a bit older and ever-so-slightly wiser, and it’s easier for me to be grateful for the spirit in which a gift is given. It doesn’t always work, of course – I am human, after all – but it certainly does make the holidays that much more enjoyable.

Your turn! Here are some questions to ponder now that the holiday season is in full swing:

Where can you make space in your life for gratitude?

What expectations are you holding onto that stand in your way?

If you’d like to get to know a little more about Alexis, she appeared in my vlog for “If you give a child a choice”, an amusing look at what happens when a daughter pushes the limits because she doesn’t believe her mom will follow the new and agreed-upon plan for choices and consequences. Yes—full disclosure—Alexis is my oldest daughter.

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