Many people seem eager to say goodbye to the holidays. Christmas trees that went up the day after Thanksgiving were taken down December 26. Candy canes and decorations are piled into shopping carts with 75% OFF signs taped to them, and Valentine’s Day goodies have taken their places on store shelves.
Having grown up in a house that saw neither tree nor candle before Christmas morning (Santa brought it all), I am not ready for business as usual. Christmas lasts twelve days, and I have three left. Christmas is a holiday to savor. Madeleine LEngle called the incarnation the Glorious Impossible, and so it is.
One day is hardly enough to celebrate Gods coming to tell us that we are the desire of the Divine Heart and Love is the way in. Jesus showed us that even death would not stand in the way of Infinite Love. So, I am still singing along with Christmas carols as I drive, writing holiday greetings, and baking cookies.
I celebrated 2010s arrival with my brother and sister-in-law and two of their friends. Tom had built an amazing snow squirrel in their backyard, a truly unique sight! We laughed, ate homemade pizza and salad, and watched a movie in the living room lit by Christmas tree glow.
Simple things: Sharing tea and conversation with friends; dinner with my daughters; enjoying wine and playing family games. Walking in snow. Wrapping up those I love with a warm embrace. Ordinary joys become more delicious when I take time to recognize the wonder of them all.
I can hear Fr. Michael Himes saying if something is always and everywhere true, it must be noticed and celebrated somewhere, sometime.
God is everywhere and always with us. These twelve days of Christmas are a time to stop and notice, to rejoice in the gift of Divine Self that was given in a complete and extraordinary way in the life of Jesus.
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