We didn’t have to buy batteries this Christmas. There is also no bickering over who gets access to the limited outlets in our rental house. We don’t have gadgets to charge or toys to power. This has been a delightfully gadget free Christmas.
Deal has been building with LEGO bricks galore. I think the kid owns his weight in LEGO. Bird has been voraciously reading the Divergent series…in hardcover. Mac Daddy will be outfitted in a new wardrobe. I will be devouring books and tantalizing my tastebuds with new recipes. Bird has been doodling old school with Spirograph. Deal builds LEGO boats and time machines. Bird reads the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book in one sitting. All the while Mac Daddy and I sit back to read fireside.
We revel in all that is quiet and slow. Life is too hurried and plugged in. Even the slowest days breeze by in a rush of electricity. We don’t slow down as a culture, a society, a community, a family, unless we slow down as individuals. The holiday peace has been wondrous. I see my family’s gleaming faces from the glow of tactile pleasures – -turning the pages of a book, stacking LEGO bricks, stirring a pot to mix up stew from a new cookbook. It sure beats the glow of a screen.
This has not been an intentionally gadget free Christmas. It’s been serendipitous.