by Camron Wright

The story is a simple one, and on the surface it may seem ordinary. Yet, therein one finds the strength of the lesson.

My grandfather loved being around his family, spending time with his children and grandchildren. The best excuse to gather everyone together seemed to be holidays (and Grandpa celebrated every holiday). The problem for Grandpa was that holidays didn’t come often enough. The solution was simple: he invented his own holidays.

One such holiday, which occurred every fall, he dubbed the Festival of the Leaves. (In truth, I was probably twelve before I realized it wasn’t a holiday that everyone in the world celebrated.)

Grandpa had three large trees surrounding his yard that would shed a thick blanket of leaves. As soon as the bulk of the leaves covered the fall ground, he’d craft formal invitations beckoning the grandchildren to come to the Festival of the Leaves. He’d rake all the leaves in the yard into one massive pile many feet high. (Keep in mind that it was a large yard.) Looking back, I realize this act alone would have taken him hours.

The festival was simple: we’d arrive on the appointed day and spend the afternoon “celebrating the leaves.” And that didn’t just mean spreading them back across the yard, as kids may do. Grandpa had developed games associated with the ritual. One in particular was finding a special leaf somewhere in the pile upon which our name was written. When we found our leaf, we won a prize. It was not until years had passed and I was an adult that it dawned on me how impossible the task of finding one leaf among what must have been millions would be—for, you see, every year every grandchild always found their leaf. I suspect now that, while watching with a grin, Grandpa must have placed those special leaves in strategic locations for unsuspecting children to find, while he beamed at the prospect of creating joy in the life of a child.

To some, this make-believe holiday may not seem particularly noteworthy. To others, it may even seem silly. Yet, countless years later, not an autumn passes that I don’t smile when I remember my grandfather and his Festival of the Leaves.

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Camron Wright is the author of several bestselling books including Letters for Emily, The Rent Collector, The Orphan Keeper, The Other Side of the Bridge, Christmas by Accident, and In Times or Rain and War.