Ahhh. Even when I was a child, with no responsibilities but opening presents happily and remembering to say “thankyou”, I preferred Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. Very very soon I realized that the anticipation was (for me) better than the event itself. Thinking about what I would be given or the expression my sister would make when she opened her whatever, was always better than the actual experience itself. In part because imagination is Infinite and the event is finite. (And don’t even get me started talking about the depressing void of boxing day) So Christmas Eve was at the heart of the holiday season for me.
Now as an adult, Christmas Eve is more like the event itself. Because there are dinners to prepare, guests towels to assemble and counters to keep tidy. I have officially moved the glorious anticipation day up by 24 hours: to Christmas Eve, Eve. I invite you to try this as well.
Think about it. Christmas Eve, Eve, has almost no responsibilities, and if there are things that need to get done, there aren’t yet people they need to be done for. It’s buffered by a pleasant warm sense of good things to come, and a cozy fullness of life and possibility.
Beavers, on the other hand, are definitely Christmas Morning kinda of creatures. They don’t seem burdened much with anticipation or disappointment. They live in the “now” and have an enviable enthusiasm for whatever it is they’re doing at the moment, even though they’re able to plan ahead and work on future goals. A beaver can come the next day to a job sight carrying tools he decided he needed the day before, but never once during the intervening time worry about meeting his goals. S/he makes the plan. Executes the plan. Revises the plan. Shares the plan. And eats the plan.
Happy Christmas Eve, Eve. If you need more good cheer, check out beaver friend Joe Eaton’s article today in the Daily Planet about the otters in Jewel Lake. A certain beaver pond is mentioned.
