Since in the Episcopal tradition in particular and in the liturgical tradition in general, Christmas is celebrated as twelve days, I’ll share with you on the second day of Christmas what Parker J. Palmer posted to Facebook on the first. Words to take seriously.
The early Quakers refused to set aside Dec. 25 as a special day. Doing so, they feared, would allow them to forget that every day is holy, that “peace and justice for all” is a message for every moment, not just one day a year. They had a point. Today, for example, the good will that abounds among us may mean a nutritious meal for some of the 16 million American children (1 in 5) who live at risk of hunger. Tomorrow, not so much. So, a note to self: celebrate with a full heart today, understand what you’re celebrating, and remember to keep your heart open 365 days a year. Holiday blessings to all!
The Winter Solstice is at 5:30 a.m. UTC (formerly known as GMT) tomorrow, Thursday 22 December 2011, which makes it 9:30 p.m. this evening, Wednesday 21 December Pacific time.
For those of you who celebrate the Solstice, Solstice greetings and blessings.
For those of you who celebrate Christmas, know that immediately after the Solstice the light starts to return, so that we are already seeing increasing light as we celebrate the coming of the Light.
Terry and I generally get our Christmas tree around the third Sunday of Advent, as we did this year. One of our traditions is that we put up the tree to the sound of “Need a Little Christmas.” But the version we play is different from most others. It was done by Alliance, a musical group of three gay men in the late 1980′s, two of whom were lost to AIDS in the ensuing years. Perhaps in deference to the epidemic, the song does not start out with an upbeat “Haul out the holly…” but rather with a slower, almost somber tone, that calls out the words:
For we’ve grown a little leaner,
Grown a little colder,
Grown a little sadder,
Grown a little older,
And I need a little angel
Sitting on my shoulder,
Need a little Christmas now.
Only then does it shift into the traditional upbeat rhythm. I find this version somehow appropriate. It reflects on our mortality for a moment, but then shifts into a joyful celebration of the season.
But wait. Whatever version, “Need a Little Christmas” on Advent 3? I would be drummed out of the corps of the Advent police for that, wouldn’t I?
Well, so be it. I can handle that.
Listen to the Alliance version. You’ll want to turn up the volume, as this was recorded at a fairly low level.
This was a really good year for Terry and me exchanging Christmas presents. The exact opposite of the O. Henry story "The Gift of the Magi," perhaps.
I wrote about how I got my Christmas present in early December on our Sonoma trip. And I wrote about how we went over to the coast the Wednesday after Christmas to get Terry's Christmas present, only to find the jewelry store closed. We went back on Saturday, and Terry brought along a small, plastic sunburst that had been attached to a bottle of perfume she had. It really represented what she wanted much more than anything in the catalog she had looked at. Our sales person, Marilee (whose title on her business card is Fairy Godmother), said, "You know, I bet Fred [the owner] could make a mold out of this and create this exact piece in gold for you." Fred said he could.
Terry's happy. I'm happy, because I'm getting her a custom pendant, and not just something I ordered out of a catalog. And I have my Pendleton jacket which I really love.
A perfect exchange of Christmas presents, even if the timing is not exactly in synch with Christmas.
I've written about this before, but it bears repeating this time of year.
Like many people, for a lot of years I experienced a post-Christmas letdown. One of the great things about observing the liturgical calendar is that Christmas lasts for twelve days: until Epiphany on January 6. That's really nice because the calendar fully supports the celebration from Christmas to Epiphany. In churches that follow the liturgical calendar the Sundays between Christmas and Epiphany are the Sundays after Christmas, either the 1st or the 1st and 2nd, depending on how the calendar falls. Such churches include Christmas music in their services on these Sundays.
In addition to the importance of the religious observance, it's a great thing from a peace-of-mind and stress level as well.
I rarely agree with Mallard Fillmore. He's about as far to the right as I am to the left. But when he's nailed it he's nailed it. And he's nailed it here.
