I had just cleared the rise from the edge of the lake when twin flickers of red caught my eye in the distance.. At first I thought it was pair of cardinals, but it couldn’t be. The proportions were all wrong, I lifted my camera to my eye and zoomed in as much as I could as I slowly moved forward.
When I finally recognized the figures I was seeing, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Never, ever, in all the decades I’ve been tramping through the woods have I seen such a sight. But there they were, the King and Queen of the Elves. For real. Right there in a clearing, surrounded by pines, looking for all the world as if they were preparing a picnic.
I was drawn magnetically to them, as unreal as the scene felt. I had no idea what to say to them. They were royalty, after all, to the elves. And you know how I adore the elves. But before I had much of a chance to think about it, words were blurting from my mouth.
“So this is where you go when you need a break from the elves and all those toys!” I was saying to a smiling, bespectacled face. He looked up at me in amusement as I stared at the scene before me. He was sitting in a wooden rocker beside a little table. On it sat a jug wearing the label ”Santa’s milk” and a plate full of perfectly baked chocolate chip cookies.
I felt as if I had stumbled across a private secret of some kind and I didn’t want to intrude. But a little bit of friendly chat seemed in order. “What brings you to the forest today?” I asked.
“Oh, we’re just going to take pictures with some families,” the being called Santa said.
I wished them a wonderful day and walked down the path entranced and feeling extraordinarily lucky.
Every year something like this happens, something out of the ordinary and wonderful. It can be a big thing or something little. But sooner or later, some piece of magic floats in and dissolves the humbug I wrap around myself in multiple layers as winter approaches. I am not a fan of the cold. But every year it happens–some little miracle–and I awaken to a world where every sight and sound and thought and circumstance and amazing human being touches me to my core. How poignant it all is! And how beautiful! How deserving of our compassion and appreciation, our gratitude and joy.
It stays with me, this trance of wonder, right into the new year. Then I’m caught up in the events of the world again and wonder steps back to smile at me from behind my shoulder, winking at me now and then when it catches my eye.
But right now, I stand enshrouded by wonder, stunned and moved by the world’s beauty, by the magnificent benevolence and perfection inherent in its movements and design. And we are here to see it. And the universe will go to such extremes to awaken us that it will even send Santa Claus and his wife to picnic in the woods on a late November day at the very hour when you followed its nudge to go there. What are the odds of that!
The elves told me once that if you see Santa in person, you get to carry the warmth and merriment of his smile with you to pass out to others as you go. So here! Have some!
It’s full of magic, you know. The kind that flows out from the center of everything and tastes and feels of love.
Warmly,
Susan