FRESH IDEAS: My wish for Olivia, on this her first Christmas

It's just days before Christmas, and with help from my spouse We've decorated and prepped everything in the house.

The cookies are baked, the linens are changed,

The stockings are hung up, furniture rearranged.

The tree has been trimmed for a couple of weeks.

The menus, however, are still being tweaked.

For again, we will listen for a sleigh on the roof,

The sweet tinkling of bells, the pawing of hooves.

It's exciting to think, after so many years,

That Santa himself will most likely appear.

For we'll have a little one, just down the hall,

Who, on Christmas morning just might find a doll.

It's Olivia's first Christmas, at 10 months of age.

In her scrapbook of memories, it's her first glittered page.

And as much as we love both her parents and aunt,

It's our granddaughter's wishes we're most eager to grant.

Because each Christmas holds, for better or worse,

Recollections that go right back to our first.

We remember more feelings, more mental snapshots,

Than the actual facts or the gifts that we got.

It's a time to revisit our own Christmas past,

A time to build memories for her that will last.

We also return to a time not too long ago,

When our girls were the little ones, with faces aglow.

What will Olivia remember? Not much, it is true,

But we'll start the ball rolling as memories accrue.

What matters of course, is the sense of together

And that sense can sustain us, whatever the weather.

When circumstance dictates we spend Christmas apart

What lasts, what is timeless, is what's held in the heart.

What we want most for Olivia won't be under the tree.

It's the knowledge she's loved -unconditionally.

Because when we know kindness and love from our birth,

Chances grow stronger for a real peace on earth.

It starts with our parents, our sisters, our brothers,

Then, as we practice, it spreads out to others.

It will take more than one day for that hope to thrive

It will take every one of them, all three-sixty-five.

Don't wait for Christmas to spread some good cheer.

It's good to sow kindness every day of the year.

So that is my wish - for Olivia and you,

That we care for each other every day the year through

• Lorie Schaefer is retired, mostly.