12 Days to go

My husband is always very pleased with any gift he is given. At Christmas time, it is truly enjoyable to watch him open his gifts. No matter what the gift is--a twelve pack of white socks or a shiny new power tool--he is genuinely happy. One Christmas I asked him what his "secret" was to this phenomenon. He said simply, "I never have any expectations. If I don't expect anything, then I'm always pleasantly surprised."

I remember that I frowned physically and mentally. How sad, I thought, to not have any expectations. And yet...there he was smiling over his pile of gifts while I was himming and hawwing, figuring out which gifts I would return, and sulking over the gifts I didn't receive.

I looked at him and realized he may have a point.

There have been many times when I have expected something. A gift. An outing. Friendship. Help. Recognition. Only to be disappointed because my expectations were not met. Would I have been better off having low or even no expectations? I'm not sure.

I had a bit of a rough two days. And I think it was because I had high expectations that were squelched. So instead of being thrilled with what did occurred, I just feel rotten.

I'm aware of the counter philosophy of expectation (often used in pedagogy and child-rearing) - that if you set high expectations, the student or child will aim higher to meet those expectations. Even Dickens explored the idea and complexity of expectations in his work "Great Expectations." And I believe he concluded that it was much better to have great expectations rather than none...even if it means you're bound to meet disappointment.

I'm heading off to bed...is it too much to expect a good night sleep? :)