Draw a circle on a piece of paper. Pretend this is a pie.
Now draw a line across it to divide it into two halves. Each half is pretty big, or would be, if this was a real pie, right?
Now draw another line to “cut” your pie into four slices. Now each slice is smaller, but still pretty good sized.
Keep going, dividing your pie into smaller and smaller slices. Stop when you get to the number of slices that is close to your age.
Now pretend that pie is your entire life so far, and each slice – however large or small – represents one year of your life.
This is an easy way to represent a concept that is already familiar to all of us: The fact that when we are little kids, it seems like the “big” events in life, the ones we most look forward to, seem to take forever to roll around.
Christmas, birthday, summer vacation … whatever it is, or was, the idea of having to wait a whole entire complete year – a YEAR! – from one to another was like waiting for eternity.
But as we get older, we start to realize that maybe our parents and grandparents weren’t crazy after all when they said things like, “I can’t believe it’s Christmastime again!”
Or “Another year older! Seems like I just celebrated a birthday.”
It’s not that 365 days literally goes by any slower for kids or any faster for adults. It’s just a difference in the proportion of our lives that makes it feel that way. For a 5-year-old child, a year is 20 percent of their entire life, but that same year is only 2 percent of the life of a 50-year-old.
Well, that’s enough of the math stuff and philosophical ramblings. Who cares about all that when … it’s the most wonderful time of the year!
Whether you are 1 or 100 or anywhere in between, the holidays are a magical season filled with wonder and that enchanted sense that wishes really do come true.
The whole world is merry and bright and filled with music, and the aroma of cinnamon and sugar cookies fills the air. Families are nearer and friends are dearer during this happy time of year.
Or so we would like to believe.
Alas! This notion may be just as much a fantasy as the idea of time going slower or faster for any one of us.
But although nobody has the power to speed or slow the hands of time, we all have the power to bring at least a little of the magic of Christmas to life.
And there is no better gift to give our children and grandchildren than to teach them the value of generosity to others, the blessing of bringing peace to our own small little corners of the world.
And perhaps someday, when even our youngest child reaches the age where he says, “I can’t believe another year has flown by,” it will bring with it the memory of a lesson taught by a kind and gentle and caring parent or grandparent, one who took the time to impart the true meaning of the season.
That, dear ones, is a gift that is truly timeless.
