Last week our host daughter, Mary, came downstairs clutching a pink hat to her chest. Mary is a vibrant young woman from Lesotho, Africa here with the Menonite Central Committee for the next year. She came into my office with her dark eyes smiling and asked, “Is this for me?”
“Where did you find it?” I replied.
“Under my pillow.”
“It must be from the Advent Fairy”, I said.
Stretching out her arms, cradling the pink hat in her hands, and with her face radiant with joy, Mary exclaimed, “I think I like this!” Into the bathroom she went. Standing before the mirror, Mary put on her new hat. Admiring herself this way and then that way, hands framing her face, Mary admired herself in her new hat. “I am a pretty lady…I love myself in my new hat…I am so beautiful…oh I like myself in this hat.” On and on she went. Joy streaming out of herself, love for herself and for her own beauty overflowing, Mary admired herself in the mirror for many minutes. Throughout the day Mary went back to the mirror several times to sneak another peak of herself. I watched in awe and wondered, “How did we white women of America lose the ability to fully appreciate and love ourselves in our bodies? My prayer for you and for me, this Christmas, is that we will sneak a peek in our mirrors and without criticism or shame proclaim our beauty and our deep joy in our own reflections. May you have a Mary Christmas.