White Christmas, Blue Christmas,
How do you have a
Wish-Come-True- Christmas?

This Christmas, we were not bombarded with Christmas music everywhere we went, so we played our own. We usually rely on the computer and Pandora radio for holiday music, but we can not get it in Sweden. So we had just one Christmas CD on hand- a mix we have called 'Christmas in Las Vegas' that has songs by Frank Sinatra and the old crooners, which we listened to over and over again.


After listening to the lyrics so many times the Swedegirl was getting to know them well. She does a very fine 'Santa Baby', asking for a 'sable to be slipped under the tree/ for me/ been an awful good girl....Santa Baby') So while listening to "I'll have a Blue Christmas without You" she asked very carefully what exactly is this 'Blue Christmas' and noticed the song was making her feel sad. So we talked about missing people, and not being with loved ones at holidays, and she said she might have a Blue Christmas because she really misses her Nanny and Pa who are in Florida.

She also took in the idea from the old songs about a 'White Christmas', and decided that's what she'd really like. Snow on Christmas. I was wishing hard with her. After the Thanksgiving Turkey, we had a wishbone. When I put it up on the shelf to dry I explained to her how when we break it, whoever gets the big piece can have a wish come true. She told me she was going to wish for a White Christmas, and for whatever I had wished to come true, as well. Pretty darn clever, including getting the other person's wish granted as part of the wish!!! But we both wanted a White Christmas, so we thought it would be easy, since we only had one wish between us. She asked a few times for the wishbone, and the day I went to reach for it it was gone- it had been on a window sill that opens to the outside, and I recently did a big cleaning...Had it fallen out the window? Gotten mixed up in the trash? Composted? I put her off until I could find it.

As Christmas approached, we got weather forecasts that it was going to be 5+ Celsius or so on Christmas, too warm for snow. I began to prepare her that we were not going to have a White Christmas after all. On hearing this news, she blinked, and said in a voice that lets you know the answer will be burned in her heart forever- "Even if we wish on the Chicken Bone?"

I began to explain wishes versus the weather, and how sometimes our wishes don't come true. And I stopped, hoping I stopped in time before too much harm was done. I felt like I was telling her fairies were not real, and felt the crash of little tinker bells falling dead all over the planet.

I started to recall a story from a grandma I met once named Edwene Gaines, who was speaking at new thought Churches around the country on prosperity thinking. She came to Unity in our town, and told some great stories of her grandsons, and how she holds the space for them that their thoughts do create their reality, that we live in a world of infinite possibility, and they can do anything they can dream of.

She told a touching story of how when they were old enough to travel without their mother, she brought both of her grandsons to England, and took them on a tour of the areas mentioned in King Arthur's tales. She took them to a secret waterfall in the woods and held a ceremony to knight them both. She said no matter what happened in this world, they could do anything, absolutely anything. And that she was always there to believe in them. She went on to say how this was challenging to uphold at times, and told a story of a time the belief became really hard for her to stick to for one of the boys.

When one of the boys was about 10, and the Gore/Bush election was closing in on a finish, he decided he wanted to talk to Al Gore and find out if he was the best man for the job. Grandma choked a bit, and was about to talk some sense into him, after all it was nearing election day, and Al Gore was an awfully busy man right then. But she held her tongue, and decided to encourage him. But she had her doubts, but to her grandson, all she offered was hope and encouragement, and her blessings that that sounded like a great idea.

Well, just two days later, the boys mom went for coffee with a study partner from one of her classes from her Atlanta College where she was doing her Master's Degree. They had been meeting all semester, and on this one occasion, the study buddy confided "I feel so behind, I am coordinator for the local Democratic committee, and in in just one week we are hosting Al Gore, and I have no volunteers lined up to help!!" The mother of the boy volunteered to help out, and yet, she was still unaware of the wish her son had expressed to his grandma. The woman volunteered and was given the job to help receive Al Gore and help get things in order for his stay. Well, when grandma heard she was beside herself, and let the mother know of her son's expressed wish. The little ten year old boy helped his mom on the campaign, and in the end he spent 30 minutes touring Al Gore's private jet and interviewing him.

The amazing thing, the grandma noted, was at the time of the seemingly impossible wish, all the pieces were already in place, but no one knew. Something magic happened when he made his wish, and without effort, without knowledge, those pieces and possibilities fell into place for him. She still works to hold the space of the possible for each one of her grandson's impossible dreams.
This is what I was thinking when my girl asked if there would be no White Christmas "Even if I wish on a Chicken bone?" Well I never found the turkey bone. My husband brought it up that she had asked for it and become distressed over it Christmas Eve day, and he had dismissed it saying we will get another one out of the turkey tomorrow. I explained its importance to him, that it was her last sure fire chance to make a wish for a White Christmas before the big day. I felt awful sad we had not made our wish sooner. But we had wished together, none the less. That had to be worth something, 'chicken bone' or not.

Well, the day after Christmas, we woke to this wonderful icy frost. It may not have been snow, but it was the best the world could give, and it did seem like an awfully White Christmas to us. (Thanks to my husband who took these great pictures, as he knew I was not likely to get out of PJs all day long that day...)

So it was a bit of a White Christmas, a Blue Christmas, and a wish-come-True-Christmas after all...I hope this Christmas you have someone who believes in you and your dreams, and that they all come true one way or another. The possibilities are infinite, and the pieces may already be in place. All you have to do is make a wish, chicken bone or not.