Snow Sunday: Gift

21 Dec Snow Sunday: Gift

It’s not easy to come up with Christmas gifts. We all have so much stuff, and we spend a great deal of time picking up, organizing, and trying to get rid of our stuff. So when it comes time to gift-giving, I’m always a little lost. What can I give to friends that they don’t already have? And more importantly, what can I give that won’t ultimately become a burden to them?

Recently, Andy and I went with the girls to Santa Fe, New Mexico to visit some friends. On the last night, they surprised us with a unique gift, a private soak at Ten Thousand Waves, a Japanese Hot Springs Spa in the mountains above Santa Fe. We refused. If anybody should be giving gifts, it should be us. After all, we had just invaded their house with our 2 children for the last 3 nights which combined with their kids, doubled their house size. Our friends insisted. It’s already booked. If you don’t go, the spa will go to waste. Your choice.

So with our tail tucked between our legs, feeling undeserving of such generous friends, we drove out of Santa Fe, winding past Santa Fe’s luxury homes and into its National Forest, heading towards the ski mountain where the lights of the city begin to fade and the stars begin to glow, unsure of what to expect. When we pulled into the parking lot and started up the winding steps to the reception, it felt as if we had traveled much farther than 10 minutes outside of the city. The tall wooden Asian style buildings instantly carried us away to Dharamsala, India, where years ago we had spent our first Christmas alone in a retreat much the same, surrounded by evergreens kissed with snow and dark, possible skies.

We were already holding heads when we reached the reception after more than 100 steps. They were waiting for us, and after passing robes to us, showed us around. Ten Thousand Waves has a little bit of everything. There’s a communal pool for families to soak in. There are scores of spa treatments—everything from a hot rock massage to salt scrubs to facials. There are foot baths and meditation rooms. And for the lucky few, there are hotel rooms and a restaurant if you want to make an overnight of the place.

Ten Thousand Waves Ichiban

Then there are the ichibans, which are private outdoor pools and a sauna, open still to the outdoors but separated from the rest of the spa by a graceful wooden enclosure. This, we discovered, was what our friends had given us. We quickly went to our respective locker rooms, showered and donned robes, and were led to our ichiban, unlocked by our hostess, who told us to press the button on the speaker if we needed anything. We nodded and thanked her, eager to be alone. When was the last time we’d soaked in our own hot spring? College? And with two young kids, when was the last time we’d had time to hang out together in a relaxed setting? Often, we were ditching our kids with babysitters to go biking or go skiing, to a work party or a loud dinner, all which have their time and place and none of which were anything close to our time alone in the ichiban.

We steamed in the sauna, splashed our faces in the cool pool and dunked under the waters of the warm pool. Then we did the same thing all over again. After a while, we just lay on the warm stones, surrounding the pools and looked up at the sky. Too soon, a voice called over a speaker, gently reminding us that our time was over.

Back in the locker room, I took my time putting on lotions and pulling on my clothes. Sometime soon we would drive back into Santa Fe and meet our friends for dinner. But for the moment, I was doing something unusual: I was moving slowly, savoring the time I’d had with the love of my life, my partner. It had only been an hour, but it is a gift that will stick with me much longer than any material object they could have given us.