Haiku 2023–335

on December 1st

may the yellow star bring you

the joy it brought me

— —

Growing up, my sister and I shared an advent calendar given to us by our mother. Made entirely of felt, it featured a green tree on a red background with pockets numbered ‘1’ through ‘24’ below. Each day in December leading up to Christmas, one of us would take a felt ornament out of one of the pockets and pin it on the tree. One of us ‘hung’ ornaments on the odd days, the other got the even days. The even-day person got the privilege of hanging Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, so what did the odd-day person get to do?

They got to put the very first ornament on tree on December 1st — the yellow star right at the top.

My sister has the calendar now — for very good reason as my family and I stopped celebrating Christmas for a time. Last I knew, it was still displayed in her house every December. She has four children of her own who I imagine have each taken their turns hanging ornaments over the years. I remember the excitement when the calendar came out when I was young as we started counting the days until Christmas. I hope someone in her household hangs the yellow star today and feels the same joy I did when I was young.