As we wind down the Thanksgiving holiday and gear up for Christmas, if you are like me, your thoughts turn toward what the past year has brought and what the new one will bring.  And, if you have children in your life, as I do, you find yourself wondering what impact you are having on them beyond teaching them to be polite, clean up after themselves and look both ways before crossing the street.

A book I picked up while on vacation in Sanibel Island, Florida is giving me a new perspective on what life lessons I am teaching my almost teenaged daughter.  The book is entitled, Sand in my eyes.  And it is by author Christine Lemmon, herself a mother.  The fictional story chronicles the life lessons learned by a worn out mom from an elderly neighbor, herself the mother of seven children.  The lessons are based on growing roses and are often found in letters the elderly woman received from her own mom, written during the Great Depression.  

The book is rich in wisdom and insight about what it means to be a wife, mother, daughter, friend and neighbor.  But of the many pearls of wisdom, the one that has struck me the most is the importance of teaching ourselves and our children to see beauty and live so others see it, too.  

Now more than ever, we live, work and play at a pace that affords little time for observation.  We fly down the road whether driving or racing to burn off those extra pounds and fail to see the detail in the flowers growing in the yards we pass.  Few could name the number of petals on a petunia or a primrose.  We simply haven't taken the time to count.  What color is the center of a magnolia flower anyway?  

While on vacation this year I took my daughter and her friend on a shelling excursion to an uninhabited island.  The shells on the beach and along the shore were plentiful--almost more than they could take in.  But we found ourselves walking slowly and carefully, picking up many shells and really examining them.  Some had animals in them who poked their heads out at us.  Others were clearly inhabited at one time but had lost their resident.  Some were full of holes while others were in perfect condition despite the movement of the water and sand.

I loved hearing my daughter and her friend talk about the beauty in those many varied shells.  And I found myself seeing them again anew.  All of a sudden, the sky seemed bluer, the trees seemed greener, the birds seemed more cheerful and I was smiling for no real reason other than I was surrounded by beauty and I knew it.

Are you recognizing the beauty around you today?  Are you teaching your children to do likewise?  This Christmas, find ways to stop and really SEE the beauty around you.  Instead of racing to get the tree decorated, stop and look at the ornaments you have carefully collected and admire their detail, color and sparkle.  Those lights that fly by in a blur on the houses on your street--slow down, or get out and take a walk--stopping to take them all in.  Above all, stop and look--really look-- deep into the eyes of those you love and see the beauty reflected there.  And before you put your head on your pillow tonight, look in the mirror at yourself and say, "I am beautiful just the way I am."   And you are!