Tag: Christmas

On Yesterday’s Walk: Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve at our house was peaceful and good, with just the three members of the household. The husband had to work part of the day but got off early. The grown son who lives here works from home and sets his hours, so he often takes his dinner up to his room and eats at the keyboard while creating code. But yesterday, he not only joined us for the whole meal, he wore his good jeans (no holes) and a nice sweater. We’re pretty casual and have never enforced a holiday dinner dress code, but I appreciated the effort.

Our family tradition is to have all the hoopla, including gift opening, on Christmas Eve, followed by a relaxed Christmas Day. I had four packages under the tree, and they were a perfect encapsulation of love to me. One I had requested specifically, the new Patti Smith memoir, Bread of Angels.

Book cover: Bread of Angels, Patti Smith, a memoir.

Aside from that, the guys got me a daily desk calendar with quotes from well-known women, a non-skid bathmat for the tub (after I nearly fell a couple weeks ago and made some drama about being on the verge of my first bad “old person” experience) and a reflective vest to wear for those occasions I find myself walking after dark (pretty much every weekday in midwinter, as the sun is already down by the time I stroll home from work.)

My loved ones care about my safety and they care about my inspiration and fulfillment. I received gifts that center the wellbeing of both body and soul. How about that spirit of Christmas, there? Pretty well captured, I’d say.

I got a chance to use my reflective vest already. We’re experiencing near record warm temperatures here, so the three of us took an evening stroll around the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights and decorations. We didn’t even need coats!

This was my favorite house:

Nighttime scene. House outlined with colored Christmas lights. A large skeleton wearing Santa clothes and beard stands next to a skeleton reindeer in the front yard.

The little bit at the bottom is a reflection on a car hood. I didn’t crop it out because I like the effect.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! And a wish for joy and peace to all, whether you celebrate Christmas, something else, or it’s just Thursday to you!

I’ll end with one of my favorite songs of the season with some of my favorite performers–John Denver and the Muppets. I listen to The Peace Carol several times every December.

Christmas Season Thoughts: What a Time to Have a Baby

Merry Christmas, from my family to yours!

I look at some of my younger acquaintances who are starting families, and my heart breaks a little. I can’t imagine starting out my parenting journey in the world as it is now. The difficulties they will face, the battles they will have to fight.

I don’t say this to them, however. Maybe because I remember oldsters saying it when I was having my children, back in the mid to late 90s. And I heard it again when the internet came along and we had to be the first generations of parents ever to figure out how that fit into child raising.

We don’t get to choose the times in which we live. We only get to choose how we respond. I know plenty of Millennials and Gen Z who are foregoing parenthood, some due to the political and/or actual climate. I respect that. But I also respect and support my younger crew who are choosing to hope enough to go ahead and have the baby they want. I mean, is it ever really the opportune moment to bring a child into this messed up world?

Look at Mary. I’m sure there were people who saw a hugely pregnant teenager, not even able to secure lodging, and shook their heads. And with Herod in power? Didn’t she know how likely it was they would become refugees in pretty short order? Who would she expect to accept and take them in? What a time for anyone to have a baby.

Anyway, here’s a poem I wrote that I’m pretty sure I’ve shared before. It seems pretty relevant right now. (It’s an abecedarian poem, by the way.)


All the Troubles and Yet

All the troubles everywhere, yet a
Baby brings joy, each new
Child in my circle a welcome
Discovery that the world goes on
Each one accepted as the 
Finest example of what the universe offers
Greeted with adoration and wonder
Heralded with hope
Imagine receiving that level of tenderness
Just for being, freely given
Love with no expectations
Meaning found simply in connection
No earning it or losing it
Only a thereness
Produced because it’s how we survive
Quarrels most certainly will arrive
Right along with disappointments
Suffering and sickness
There’ll be time to think on those
Upsets later, rather than wasting the
Velvet days of infancy with our minds
X number of years in the future
Youth speeds away but comes 
Zipping back to humanity again and again

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! May we be able to keep our focus on love and support for those in need, and may we celebrate the most vulnerable among us.