Snowstorm Suite

It’s the season for gifts, for giving and receiving, for buying and returning and I’ll be the first to admit that shopping isn’t my favorite thing to do. Amazon.com has made the season brighter for me all around, and this year, I consciously and up front was a cheap ass and told people so. I bought small, thoughtful gifts for my family and it was fun. We all have what we need, I try to keep that as my litmus test in this culture of acquiring, holding in mind that things don’t bring us happiness, as much as advertising tries to make us believe otherwise.

Some gifts, even expensive ones, lay in drawers, the sentiment worn away, if not the perceived value of the item. We keep them, because they might be worth something, obviously, if they’re not being used or enjoyed; they are not.

Some gifts are intangible and priceless; like the gifts my children would often surprise me with when we were a much younger family. Kathleen, who’d clean up the kitchen when it was an overwhelming mess. Erin and Megan, out on the front porch in the cold, putting the Christmas lights up on the front porch to surprise me when I came home from work. And the day I walked into the house, worn out and weary with life, when Megan said, “Mom, you’ve got to hear this.”

I came into the living room and sat down as she cued up the music, “Listen, mom, I heard this in school, and I found this recording at the library.” It was Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and it was, well, music to my ears. It assured me there was beauty in the world, and that my children would find it, and not only find it, but want to share it. Maybe this mothering gig would work out. (It did.)

Lately, more and more research is showing that classical music can help with depression, simple, but it’s true. In one study, the researchers noted that there are several possible reasons for the participants’ improved mental states, including the fact that music activates processes which facilitate brain development and plasticity. Music is good for us.

Being a research junkie, I also remember being fascinated by a story of an animal that wasn’t eating, and one day, it’s owner inadvertently dropped a newspaper over it’s food, and when it had to hunt for the food, it ate. Seems that we need to have some say in our lives, something to work for, to put forth a bit of effort for enjoyment.

So, with the thought in mind that it’s the season for gifts; that music is good for you, and hunting a bit makes you appreciate things more, I give you a gift-quest. Yes, I know that I could directly link you to sites, but I’m making you look, on purpose, because I don’t think that a life that is always just one click away from gratification is the best life for you. So here is the cheap-ass, 99 cent gift that I gave to myself this season, and that I pass on to you. Think of it as a recipe for a little happiness, from me to you.

Go to i-Tunes and find Georgy Sviridov's Snowstorm Suite IV, Romance; performed by the St. Petersburg Orchestra of the State Hermitage Museum; 99 cent download. Good for your head, good for your heart, listen and listen again. Happy New Year.