Christmas Greetings

Yes indeed, snow!  It is still snowing and it is lovely.  Hopefully, we can now save mud season for its rightful place in April.

Remember when I told you I planted ginger?  I just harvested my first piece.  It's on the small side, but it is definintely ginger.  I feel so smart.  I will put it in this afternoon's tea to celebrate.  The narcissus I planted are blooming and filling the house with their powerful aroma and the first bulb in my mixed pot of leftover bulbs has broken the surface.  Two of the orchids are putting out flower scapes, althought it will be a month or more before they bloom.  I do love flowers in the winter.

I am going to take a break until after New Year.  But I am going to leave you with this message, which was our Christmas letter this year.


There’s an old Christmas hymn “There’s a Song in the Air” that contains the words “The star rains it’s fire while the beautiful sing, for the manger of Bethlehem cradles a King.” Having seen meteor showers, one of the true wonders of the universe, I can only imagine what that star ( or stars) would have looked like. It is like fire raining from the sky, beautiful, awe-inspiring, even humbling. For those people long ago, it was surely frightening.

Christmas is beautiful too. Not in things, but in our hearts, where true beauty lives. It is a chance for us to once again put aside the glitz and open our hearts to wonder, to real beauty, to awe, to things beyond ourselves.

Advent, the season of preparation in the Christian church world wide, is 4 weeks of anticipation and expectation. The first week celebrates Hope, for all people everywhere. The second is Peace, which we all hope for. The third is my favorite - Joy. C.S. Lewis called it “That joy without which the universe would not exist” Joy is the under girding of everything and only comes from God. The last is Love. Love that brought a helpless infant to Bethlehem, love that went to a cross, love that rose to rule the universe, love for each of us. Love between us and among us. Love enduring.

Big thoughts. Hard to fit them into our humble lives, but let there be Hope, Peace, Joy and Love in your heart today and every day of your life. May this Christmas be the most wonderful you have ever had.