Christmas vacation officially started yesterday, and within hours the chorus of "I'm bored" rang out. Sure, as a parent, it can be grating to hear that, but after eight weeks of a full schedule, I don't even mind.
"I love that you're bored. Isn't it nice that we don't have somewhere to be?" I asked. "School, basketball, dinner, homework, shower, sleep and repeat. That was so much. It's good for you to be bored."
And so after cleaning up of all the shipping boxes we recently received (thank you, Amazon Prime and Lands' End), I asked the most-bored child if he wanted to make something with them. I suggested a house, and I knew I had lit the spark he needed.
This morning, Andrew was eager to put on the finishing touches. In many ways, this house is his dream home - large, two stories, lots of windows. No dormers on his third-story attic, but not because he didn't want his beloved "windows on the roof". (Honestly, Mom ran out of steam after the chimney.) It's amazing what some boredom mixed with a little dreaming can do.
This house that Andrew has created reminds me of the stately home illustrated in Margaret Wise Brown's book "On Christmas Eve". Originally written in 1938, this story presents Christmas with such excitement and wonder as three children sneak out of their beds on a snowy Christmas Eve and tiptoe down the stairs to discover their decorated tree with some gifts and a toy train, and filled stockings hung on a mantle above the slowly dying fire.
When our family read this book again this year, I explained that when it was written, Christmas morning was often when children saw their tree for the first time in all it's glory, twinkling and beautiful. It was part of the anticipation, part of the wait. And thus the reason that trees were often kept up until Epiphany was celebrated - the 12 days of Christmas.
There's something to be said for waiting and wonder. Taking time to build something, to ponder and plan, and even pray. And the reward and joy that comes after it all. (Isaiah 40:30-31)
It's good to be bored. It's good to wait.
