When Mom asked what I wanted for Christmas, I couldn't decide what to tell her. There were two things I wanted—desperately! There was that sweet little red-eared gray stuffed elephant I'd seen at Krom's Department Store and the gorgeous grown-up white angora sweater on the mannequin at Scott's Smartwear. The problem was I didn't want to admit that, at thirteen, I still wanted a kid's toy. So I told her the sweater was the thing I wanted most. She said it was awfully grown up and the subject was dropped.
Figuring the sweater was a "no-go," I decided to explain that there was this little elephant...but Mom asked me point blank didn't I think I was too old for such things. I gave up talking about it but I didn't give up wishing. I dreamed of gray elephants and white angora sweaters...elephants in angora sweaters...elephants singing in angora sweaters...dancing!
"How about some new pajamas?" Mom asked.
"Okay." If she was looking for enthusiasm, she'd come to the wrong place!
"Christmas is not about getting, anyway, Mom said. "It's about giving."
Forget it, I thought, Christmas was going to be a big bust!
On Christmas morning, Mom handed me a pretty package. I figured, for sure, it was a new pair of pajamas and couldn't believe my eyes when I found, instead, the white angora sweater. I guessed, from Mom's choice of gifts, that she was telling me to grow up.
But later that day, just before bedtime, Mom walked into the living room where I was sitting—caught between the confusing world of growing up and that of childhood—staring in wonder at the Christmas lights. Her hands were behind her back and she was smiling.
"I thought you needed this more than a pair of new pajamas," she said, as she brought out the little red-eared gray elephant and placed it in my hands.
I can see the twinkle in my mother's eyes, still, as I think back to that Christmas when she gave me the greatest gift of all—the knowledge that, no matter how old you are, it's always okay to be a kid at heart.
I wish all you grown-up kids out there a heartfelt Christmas and thank my mom for her fun-loving spirit, her wisdom, and her love.
As the year 2009 closes and we look forward to 2010, I want to express to each and every one of my blogging friends just how grateful I am to have been fortunate enough to come to know you during the past year. 
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