My kids occasionally ask me what it is I want for Christmas.  Which completely throws me… because I place very little stock in what I receive at Christmas. Whereas I realize this is the very large part of what makes Christmas magical for them.  So lately, and after reading one Mama’s very consumer-driven, grown-up Christmas wish-list on the Huff Post, I started thinking of how my own wish list might go down.  For real…this is what I want.  Here it is, in no particular order of importance.  Completely random, people.

1.)    I wish for the words ‘hate’, ‘stupid’, ‘stink’, ‘weird’  and ‘unfair’ to be completely ERADICATED from my children’s vocabulary until they come of an age whereby they use these terms in the following way:

{‘that hate means hating cruelty in all its forms’, ‘stupid becomes the new ‘s’ word’, ‘Stink only refers to the book character in the popular children’s novel’, ‘weird refers to all those behaviors that don’t exhibit empathy’ and ‘unfair refers only to children in all parts of this small world  we inhabit who have been dealt a lesser hand.’}

2.)    I wish Christmas elves would come do ALL my decorating.  And clean my house while they’re at it.  And de-junk my van?  (No that would be asking too much.)

3.)    I wish I could live the ‘talk’ that I always preach to my kids.  Consistently.  And I wish that I could streamline and minimize those mini-sermons in order of priority so that they are DOABLE.

4.)    I wish for a truckload of patience.  And if that isn’t feasible, a wagon-load will do.

5.)    I wish for empathy towards others even when they are stepping on my last nerve.

6.)    Grace.   Compassion.  Love.

7.)    I wish that there would never, ever be another hair stuck in the drain, on the side wall of my shower, alongside my sink, down the sides of my counter top or inside a box of cookies on my counter.  Ever again.

8.)    I would love to trade my insecurities just for a day and live like my former five-year old self.  (#that’dbeglorious. Stellar, actually.)

9.)    I wish for one more hour for just one day.  Just so I could test myself and really see if I could get more done.  (My guess?  Nope.)

10.) Understanding gained little by little so that I can see the world through the eyes of a child; through the eyes of a hurting friend, a grief-stricken widow, a stressed-out colleague, a despondent family member.  So that I can not only see the world through the lens of their eye, but feel the world by walking a mile in their shoes.

This is my grown-up Christmas list.