The air of anticipation within the ClayNation leaves me breathless these days.  I am filled with excitement and exhilaration at the mere thought of what is to come. This mingled with the snap and crispness of the autumn air, the riotous colors splashed across the landscape and the expectation of Clay filled holidays creates visions in my mind to rival the dancing sugarplums of childhood!

Clay Aiken will all but own the major networks between mid-month November and the first week of December, and I fairly levitate off my seat every time I peruse the list of shows he will grace with his presence and talent. All this, and tickets to a December 2nd Christmas concert too...the Fairy Felicity herself has surely visited me!! 

But...all of the above aside, there is something that has been dancing inside my head since Clay's appearance on the Jay Leno show, May 11, 2004! At the very end of the interview there is a chuckle from Clay coupled with a gleam in his eye and the flutter of lashes that made me think of Santa that night. It still does to this day, every time I watch the video! Maybe it's because in the past, some people referred to him as "elfin" in his looks and dress, but I think it was just another peek at the jolly old soul, the light and the spirit that lives within Clay!

Of today's Celebrity within his genre, Clay Aiken is the personification of Spirit and Light! His concert tour this holiday season is aptly named Joyful Noise...there could be no other, because when Clay opens his mouth, even if it's just a slight parting of the shell pink, wonderfully expressive lips, that is exactly what escapes...a beautiful, heavenly, joyful noise!

And as that joyful noise begins to float out over his audience, Clay begins to light up from within and that light captures us and bathes us in his brilliance and glory. Watching Clay sing as well as listening to that voice is a holiday in and of itself!

Clay is the quintessential embodiment, the very essence of Spirit. He has fire and humor. He has grit, guts and heart. He has moral character and ardor; he has mettle, motivation and resolve. He has sparkle, spunk, temper and substance. Clay has vitality, warmth, a will and a zest for life. Clay is Spirit in its truest form!

And having Clay in my life this Holiday Season, brings these findings to light........when I look at Clay Aiken and see the sheer joy that lights up his beautiful face, when I hear him sing just to the Lord in anguished praise or hushed prayer-like tones...arms outstretched toward Heaven, when I hear his infectious laugh or hear him holding his glory notes in contest, when I watch him jump around the stage in sheer delight at a child's voice, when I see him kneel before a child to capture her eyes in his, when I hear him growl his words or wail in song, when he can emote such feelings of utter joy from his fans and bring us to tears time and time again, when he shows the depth of his love & how very much he cares for humanity...then I know, I feel and I think, that within the realm of "Spirit" Clay Aiken is the brilliant twinkle in starlight, the heat of sunshine, the glistening shimmer of newly fallen snow. He is the warmth emanating from a crackling fire, he is the whirling wind on a winter's eve, he is a joyful soul, I think an Old Soul, he is animation and delight! Clay Aiken is the personification of Spirit and Light, not just for this Holiday Season, but for Always! Clay Aiken just IS!!!