Dear Friends,

 

I saw a magazine cover last week that announced O H M Y G O D (It’s Christmas). The exclamation didn’t reflect much joy. A lot of people are already attacking their list of “ I have to’s” and “we must’s” that go along with the holiday.  For some people it’s a crazy time. Christmas as crisis. If that is fun for you ---I bless your busy hearts and hands. If you would like permission to pass on some of it, read on.

 

Robert Fulghum tells a wonderful story about the year he and his wife decided to leave that all behind. “It’s not that we became Scroogish about the season, he writes, “---it’s that we didn’t want to become Scroogish.” So they made different Christmas plans. This is from his story…

 

We were still influenced by the memory of being in New Mexico for part of the holiday season one year. We passed through the manic little tourist town of Taos, which was geared up for the maximum level of kitschy consumerism, and drove farther on up the road to the Tao Indian pueblo. Peace and quiet reigned there. The time from December 15 to January 15 is observed as “The time of being still.” The pueblo is closed to tourists and all commercial activity for a month. To us it felt like the little town of Bethlehem must have been a long time ago.

And so in the sensible spirit of our Indian cousins, we decided to be still the following year. We didn’t go shopping. The money we might have spent went to a good cause. We told our family, “Take the time you might have spent shopping for us, who wish you quiet joy this Christmas. God rest you, merry gentlemen, and gentlewomen, too –God rest you.”

In late December my wife and I went off to Utah for a time ---just the two of us. On Christmas Eve we built a fire to sit by while we ate homemade bread and chili. We took a long walk up the valley in the snow. We came upon a midnight clear. The silent stars went by. The world in solemn still lay. And when the angels sang, we were there to hear them.

 

I wish you quiet rest and peaceful contemplation to compliment your holiday meeting, greeting, traveling and feasting. God bless you, merry gentlemen, and gentlewomen, too.

 

Much love,

Joan