Christmas Eve morning!

Shopping list divided into three! Power team!

the shortest day

I woke at 6 am this morning to the repeated sound of a great horned owl in our woods. The waning full moon shone in the window creating yellow patterns on the  wooden floor.  How could I not get up in the dark lit by the moon and put the kettle on for a cup of tea?  After doing some writing, I checked The Writer's Almanac which arrives in my email every morning and read what I have pasted in below. I try not to miss a chance to notice what is happening beyond the world of people and Christmas craziness (so many cars, so much frenzy!) 

The earth turns and rotates on its axis, the days will grow longer starting tomorrow, we can look forward to brighter days by February.  Christmas  Day provides a time out from a busy world. It is a time to listen for the owl and each other. May we all listen below the surface of our words to deep knowing.

 Listen, Pause and then Speak.

 We've got plenty of time.

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In the Northern Hemisphere, today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and the longest night. It's officially the first day of winter and one of the oldest-known holidays in human history. 

Anthropologists believe that solstice celebrations go back at least 30,000 years, before humans even began farming on a large scale. Many of the most ancient stone structures made by human beings were designed to pinpoint the precise date of the solstice. The stone circles of Stonehenge were arranged to receive the first rays of midwinter sun.

Some ancient peoples believed that because daylight was waning, it might go away forever, so they lit huge bonfires to tempt the sun to come back. The tradition of decorating our houses and our trees with lights at this time of year is passed down from those ancient bonfires. In ancient Egypt and Syria, people celebrated the winter solstice as the sun's birthday.

Henry David Thoreau said: "In winter we lead a more inward life. Our hearts are warm and cheery, like cottages under drifts, whose windows and doors are half concealed, but from whose chimneys the smoke cheerfully ascends."

the whole family and visitors!

The manger was a crowded place on Christmas Eve!

Taking this photo was challenging, trying to get everyone in.

Kings- move in.

Angels- spread out.

Cows- we can't see you.

etcetera.

I am reminded of those five years that I directed a Christmas Pageant at 

The First Parish Church.

A living creche!

I like the silence of this one.

The only thing missing is chickens.

The South American Creches usually include a rooster.

Of course.

Angels

the new one

The one on the right is the original angel, the one on the left just added. 

They are mirror images, similar but not exactly alike.

I like to wander through shops in Concord at this time of year to just take in the Christmas feeling. There are small trees with handmade ornaments from around the world, there are birds of felt and silver origami stars.

I see miniature snow scenes like the one my mother used to assemble with hand carved figures skating on a round mirror pond dusted with snow.

And of course I seek out the creche scenes; Joseph and Mary bending low over the baby, shepherds and wise men keeping watch and animals all around.  At home I have a creche, each figure carved from olive wood made in the Middle East.  But the one I treasure is the collection of figures that I have been tenderly unwrapping from tissue paper once a year all my life. This is the creche from my childhood.  The camel with his long legs is cracked, but the rest of these figures are fine.

As I wandered through Nesting on Main, I spotted a single angel on a shelf all by herself.  I picked her up and looked at the bottom.  There on the green base was the familiar stamp, "made in Italy" and the a yellowed square sticker with "JJ Newbury...29 cents" stamped in purple ink.  This angel looked similar to the one in my creche at home.  I could not leave her there with no baby to bless, no wise men, no cow. She was without her people! I took her to the counter to buy her and the shop keeper said with authority, "she is part of a classic 40's creche." "I know, I answered, I have one at home."
Classic 40's.  I pictured mom at JJ Newbury's picking out each figure to create the creche  scene that we children would see each year.

"People love angels, she will go soon," the shop keeper continued.  "But what people come looking for most often is the baby.  For some reason, they go missing. Maybe children tuck them into a pocket or they just get lost in the shuffle."

That did NOT happen in MY household,  I thought smugly.
Jesus is alive and well at my house surrounded by adoring figures and now TWO  angels keeping watch!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

December Day

Happy December!

Get out that parka and tie the hood tight.

(There is nothing colder than a hockey rink!)