Advent Light Post 12/24/2020

Judy Saunders. Photo of a Rose.

Lo, how a rose e'er blooming
From tender stem hath sprung,
Of Jesse's lineage coming,
As folks of old have sung.
It came a flower bright
Amid the cold of winter
When half-spent was the night.

...

Len and I were delivering presents to Chicago yesterday. Social distancing, with masks, but we did it and we saw our kids’ faces and there’s your Christmas, Ma’am.

Our 4-year-old granddaughter had helped her mom make chocolate chip banana muffins that our daughter offered to us. Our granddaughter darkly warned us (from her backyard swing, wearing a pink jacket, not too scary after all) that we should not take more than one because, “They’re for Santa.”

I remember leaving snacks for Santa. I remember our kids leaving snacks for Santa. Len thought it the height of wit to tell the kids that Santa likes a glass of red wine.

I remember one of our kids becoming very anxious on Christmas eve. “What if I have to go the bathroom and he is here?” We were sympathetic. My god, what would it be to get up, hear a noise, and there is a stranger in the house? He is two feet taller and a hundred pounds bigger than you? He is in your family room eating your muffins and drinking your wine?

Anticipation is delicious. Some of us are single, are grandparental ages, or by distance and Covid will not be seeing our best people. What do we get to anticipate this year?

The most powerful moments in our lives are often not the ones where people gave things to us, but we gave to others.

Maybe we can recall some of the best things we have given. Gifts and help of stuff, time, planning, organization skills to strengthen or build a program. Reading to others, talking with like-minded friends. Not being afraid when someone else was.

Consider when and where and what we can give next.

Make it complicated and make it fun.

Anticipation.

…

Kathryn Rouse. Photo taken in Jellystone Campground, decorated for the holidays

“Well, she can have her tinsel world of make-believe. I’m headed back to Jellystone.” Yogi Bear

“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.”
― Leonard Cohen

…

Len. Our neighbors’ duplex homes.

“Pointing to another world will never stop vice among us; shedding light over this world can alone help us.” ― Walt Whitman

“Home isn't where you're from, it's where you find light when all grows dark.”
― Pierce Brown, Golden Son

…

Kathryn Rouse. The yellow round ones at the top left are lemon flavored and I had a co-worker who would wait for a year to get another one. He would ask me in the week before Christmas, “Do you think your friend Kathryn will bring you cookies this year?”

…

Lois Miller's photo of her mom, who is 101. What beauty.

“The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”
― Maya Angelou, All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes

“Don't worry about losing. If it is right, it happens - The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.” John Steinbeck

…

Gary Cozette. A skim of ice on Lake Michigan

“Ice contains no future, just the past, sealed away. As if they're alive, everything in the world is sealed up inside, clear and distinct. Ice can preserve all kinds of things that way - cleanly, clearly. That's the essence of ice, the role it plays.” - Haruki Murakami, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

“The quality of owning freezes you forever in "I" and cuts you off forever from the "we.” John Steinbeck

…

Jennifer Beiriger. Ocean bird.

 “We never know how high we are till we are called to rise; And then, if we are true to plan, our statures touch the skies.” – Emily Dickinson

“Love is anterior to life, posterior to death, initial of creation, and the exponent of breath.” – Emily Dickinson

…

Kathryn Rouse. She owned this toy as a child and saw it again in a store window in Vermont. I had a Jack-in-the-box that would have matched this toy. 

“No one ever forgets a toy that made him or her supremely happy as a child, even if that toy is replaced by one like it that is much nicer.” ― Stephen King, The Eyes of the Dragon

“The past beats inside me like a second heart.” ― John Banville, The Sea

…

Karen Poe and her mom, years ago, taking the grandkids to a holiday play at Amish acres.

“Humans, not places, make memories.” ― Ama Ata Aidoo

“Sometimes," he sighed, "I think the things I remember are more real than the things I see. ”
― Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha

…

Len took this photo of a group of friends who got together for coffee. In case you don’t already realize, this is your Christmas Mary photo. Paula Marie, Mary Ann, Mary Beth, Renee Marie, and Mary Kay.

“Never once did Jesus scan the room for the best example of holy living and send that person out to tell others about him. He always sent stumblers and sinners. I find that comforting.” ― Nadia Bolz-Weber

“People have told me 'Betty, Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with old friends...'
.. At my age, if I wanted to keep in touch with old friends, I'd need a Ouija board” ― Betty White

“Why did you do all this for me?' he asked. 'I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you.' 'You have been my friend,' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing.” ― E.B. White, Charlotte's Web

…

Franc Garcia. His friend Brad.

There is a saying I have heard several times but can’t find right now. It’s from Jewish tradition.

“When does night become morning?

When there is enough light to recognize the face of a friend.”

...

Karen Poe sent this photo that her grandson Tristan took. It’s the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter (from our point of view) happening this week, which people are calling the Christmas Star.

“The notion that we live in a quiet, ordinary suburb of the galaxy was simple and comforting. But boy, we were wrong.” ― Michio Kaku

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars and see yourself running with them.” ― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

…

I thank all of you who shared Looking for Advent Light photos with us all. It's been a good and memorable project for me. I appreciate all your contributions. 

And now?

Merry Happy Christmas Weekend!

“We are all connected in ways we cannot even begin to fathom. Our lives unfold through each other and within each other. What one suffers, we all feel. What one does changes others forever.”
― David Rhodes, Driftless