One day, Maya and I pretended we took an airplane to the moon. We were camping. We were pretending.

What did you see?

A scary person. He looked like a monster. So I sat back down in my seat.

Did you see anything when you looked out your window?

Outer space! It was nighttime. The sky was full of stars. They were all pink. The stars were so many colors. Purple, green, black, pink. I gathered all of the pink stars.

They must have been lovely.

They were warm. I gathered the pink stars and held them up to my face.

What did Maya do?

She said, What are you doing? I said, I’m gathering the stars and holding them up to my face. She turned away. She gathered the stars out her window and held them to her face.

My daughter told me this story a couple of days ago. I treasure it on many levels. But today it struck me as a lovely image to keep in mind during the holidays. Stresses with family inevitably arise. We have scary monster moments. Instead of engaging and amplifying the monster within or without, maybe we just sit back down in our seats. If we look out our windows, at the bigger picture, we’ll see the vast beauty and brightness around us. The beauty of the festive and chaotic scene, or being with family, or having family. We can gather that to us.

And by holding it there, maybe the others will feel the warmth, too.

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Written by

Tracy Cutchlow

Tracy is the author of the international bestseller Zero to Five: 70 Essential Parenting Tips Based on Science, a public speaker, and a creator of places to speak and be heard. Sign up for her newsletter here.