Deep and Crisp and Even 2010
(Re posted and updated from a 2004 post)
Like many of my friends, I am by nature a gift giver. I take great joy in the hunt and selection, and the act of giving does my heart good. This year Sarah and I are not really doing any other gift then those Sarah sees fit to make.
While the reasons for it are economic, it gives me a chance to look at the whole holiday again and I am really enjoying it.
The good feelings generated by my better nature during the holiday season don’t really focus on the icons of my youth. The wise men and choirs of Angels do not reflect back to me warmth and charity as they once did. I’ve been feeling more tied to very old ideas.
Hospitality is such a fine virtue. My friends share it in abundance and for this I am grateful. During this calm moment considering the holiday season I find myself drawn to thoughts of when winter was a test of your very survival. Long cold days and nights could seem to mock life, as ice took grip of the whole world. Surviving or even thriving in the cold was a miracle that was provided only by community. A warm fire with food and drink exists only with a group of people, no matter how small, deciding to look to each others well being while the world is dark and slumbering. This is the great joy of my heart this and every year.
By the hearth, when considering the Yule fire, friends and family generate life and love from their very hearts. The will to live well and in community reflects out onto nature. The ice on the hill and trees becomes beautiful and blue. The snowfall has a mesmerizing grace and frost upon glass seems to be the finest art. Those things that would mean death, instead reflect back our joy of life.
This is what I celebrate. My family ever faithful grows dearer to me each passing year. My friends continue to prove true beyond testing. The hospitality we share is real and unsullied. Gifts are superfluous. I have an embarrassment of riches when we are ringed about the fire.
Like many of my friends, I am by nature a gift giver. I take great joy in the hunt and selection, and the act of giving does my heart good. This year Sarah and I are not really doing any other gift then those Sarah sees fit to make.
While the reasons for it are economic, it gives me a chance to look at the whole holiday again and I am really enjoying it.
The good feelings generated by my better nature during the holiday season don’t really focus on the icons of my youth. The wise men and choirs of Angels do not reflect back to me warmth and charity as they once did. I’ve been feeling more tied to very old ideas.
Hospitality is such a fine virtue. My friends share it in abundance and for this I am grateful. During this calm moment considering the holiday season I find myself drawn to thoughts of when winter was a test of your very survival. Long cold days and nights could seem to mock life, as ice took grip of the whole world. Surviving or even thriving in the cold was a miracle that was provided only by community. A warm fire with food and drink exists only with a group of people, no matter how small, deciding to look to each others well being while the world is dark and slumbering. This is the great joy of my heart this and every year.
By the hearth, when considering the Yule fire, friends and family generate life and love from their very hearts. The will to live well and in community reflects out onto nature. The ice on the hill and trees becomes beautiful and blue. The snowfall has a mesmerizing grace and frost upon glass seems to be the finest art. Those things that would mean death, instead reflect back our joy of life.
This is what I celebrate. My family ever faithful grows dearer to me each passing year. My friends continue to prove true beyond testing. The hospitality we share is real and unsullied. Gifts are superfluous. I have an embarrassment of riches when we are ringed about the fire.