9 Year Olds

Sometimes it’s the smallest people that can make the biggest difference and most of them don't even know it.  So on this, the 9^th day of Christmas, I’m devoting my blog to 9 year olds thanks to my cousin Abby.

It was just after thanksgiving that I took a bus trip to New York City to go shopping with my cousins, my aunt and my mom.  New York City is a magical place.  It’s pretty much one of a kind and no other city does Christmas quite like New York.  No one does crowds quite like NYC either and on this particular day it was beyond crowded.  Personally I was dreading going up there.  I have been to New York hundreds of times and the truth is I can go whenever I want so the idea of going when everyone else in the world was flocking to it sounded like a time to avoid the city, especially the epicenter of it all, Times Square.  But even with all the reasons why I didn’t want to go, there was still one very important reason why I did want to go and that was Abby.

 As you get older, you start to see how much more there is to “The City” beyond the bright lights of Times Square, but as a kid there are no other parts of New York.  Times Square with its massive billboards, electricity, oversized stores, and street hustle and bustle is intoxicating.  Watching Abby throughout the day taking it all in with anticipation and excitement brought me back to a time when all I wanted to do was live in New York when I grew up.  Back then, going to New York was a treat, not a chore.  It was nice to remember why exactly I feel in love with that city so many years ago.

When I sat down to write today’s post, I wasn’t completely sure what to write.  A lot of different things swirled around in my head as I thought of what could be associated with the number 9 and when I thought of Abby and that particular day in New York, I knew what today’s message had to be.  I’ve said it before but so often our grown up eyes tend to see the downsides of life.  We focus on what went wrong or why we don’t want to do something.  We think with our heads because we have to make smart choices and decisions but sometimes, we should think about to what it felt like to be a kid.  Christmas is the perfect time to take a walk down memory lane.

Maybe you stayed up to wait for Santa or looked for reindeer on rooftops.  Think about making gingerbread houses covered in frosting or when you used to make all your gifts in art class.  Christmas, like most things, was just better when you were a kid.  It was uncomplicated and simple.  It was decorating trees, watching holiday movies, and everyone being together.  Just like Abby looking at New York with wide eyes and enthusiasm, we should look at the holidays as a wonderful time and tune out the overcrowded malls, extra traffic, and constant outpouring of money.