Early Christmas Morn

While the dawn opens grey
Across the December sky
Spirit of Christmas unfurls
Below the hustle glitter
Of the manufactured world

Christmas is Upon Us!

I'm guessing you've been as busy as I with all the last-minute hustle and bustle. Monday night found my husband and me zipping through a cold rain to trudge from store to store on the quest for just the right gifts for the kids, as well as their difficult-to-buy-for grandfathers.

Now it's the day before the big day, and I pray that we are ready. I know we have food, we have alcohol, the house is decorated, there seems to be a tree with presents under it, and we're all together.

I think that might be as good as it gets. :)

Below I'll give you the lyrics to one of my favorite nontraditional Yule songs. It's better with the music which helps emphasize the narrator's progression from disillusioned to enchanted.

Christmas by Blues Traveler

Comes the time for Christmas
And I really have to ask
If this is feeling merry
How much longer must it last?

I wish a one horse open sleigh
Would come carry me away
But I've been waiting here all day
And one just hasn't come my way

Now excuse me if I'm not being reverent
But I was hoping for a miracle to hold me, wash me
Save me from my righteous doubt as I watch helpless
And everybody sings

If it's Chanukah or Kwanza
Solstice, harvest or December twenty-fifth
Peace on earth to everyone
And abundance to everyone you're with

Laha da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da da da da
La da da da da da da da
La da da da da da da da da
Laha da da da da
Laha da da da da

Comes the time for Christmas
And as you raise your Yuletide flask
There's like this feeling that you carry
As if from every Christmas past

It's as if each year it grows
It's like you feel it in your toes
And on and on your carol goes
Harvesting love among your woes

I want to buy into the benevolent
And I was hoping for a miracle to hold me, wash me
Make me know what it's about
As the longing in me makes me want to sing

Noel or Navidad
Season celebration or just the end of the year
Christmas can mean anything
And I mean to keep its hope forever near

As if a cold and frozen soul is warmed to love
By love’s own hand
So goes the prayer (if for a day)
Peace on earth
And good will to man

At twenty below, the winter storm it billows
But the fire is so warm inside
And the children while nestled in their pillows
Dream of St. Nicholas's ride
And how the next day they'll get up and they will play
In the still falling Christmas snow
And together we'll celebrate forever
In defiance of the winds that blow

My God in heaven now I feel like I'm seven
And Spirit calls to me as well
As if Christmas had made the winter warmer
Made a paradise from what was hell

As if a cold and frozen soul is warmed to love
By love’s own hand
So goes the prayer (if for a day)
Peace on earth
And good will to man …

I wish a one horse open sleigh would come carry me away
And I'll keep waiting through next May
Until Christmas comes my way

Words by J. Popper. Music by T. Anastasio and J. Popper

Merry day before Christmas to you. I wish you peace, abundance, and few errands!

Illustration

The moon curls like a bubble above the waving water, a silver-purple-blue picture in a children's book.
******

On the longest night of the year, Happy Winter Solstice everyone.

Net of Lights

A net of lights glows
On the slate green wall
At the back of the coffee shop

The vanilla warmth of waffles fills the air

Christmas arrives with spices
Scents, shining shades

The bleak loneliness of season
Pours its riches
Like the ocean’s foam
Through a net of lights

NO!

A strong word. One of our very first words.

From such an early age, we draw our boundaries and separate ourselves from others.

Snippet

"They also serve who only stand and wait."

Grace for Sunday

Philip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, said this to Laura Miller. Co-founder of Salon.com, she just wrote The Magician's Book about loving, disdaining, and reclaiming the Narnia series. I thought the quote was fitting for the day:

You can't regain the grace you've lost.

The only thing to do is go on through that

and eventually acquire the other sort of grace,

the conscious grace.