Christmas on the Road

We started Christmas at Grandmom and Opa's, where we spent Christmas Eve with the Wallhausser gang. After good eats and the family gift exchange, we scattered reindeer food on the front walk and turned in for the night. Christmas morning, Hannah and John awoke to find gifts and stockings from Santa and hoof prints in the half-eaten reindeer food. A quick breakfast fueled us for the trek to Louisville, where all the cousins were gathered. We ate first--the traditional turkey, ham, dumplings, banana croquettes, etc., and then Uncle Jason distributed gifts. We were buried in wrapping paper within minutes. After a few hours, we drove back to Berea to pick up a few things and drop off Hannah (who stayed with Opa and Grandmom for a few days), and then came back home. John was up until midnight playing with his new toys.

A good Christmas. Enjoy the pics.

Happy New Year,
B.

A Hopeful Season

As I was looking for a quote to use in our Christmas card this year, I remembered a line a good friend of mine used in her card several years ago. She handwrote in each of her cards these words: "and with ah! bright wings." The line seemed familiar (I must have paid more attention in my Romantic and Victorian literature class than I realized), and it sent me searching for the Gerard Manley Hopkins poem where I thought I'd find it. It's from "God's Grandeur," and the line captures so well the comfort, hope, and peace the holiday season should bring.

So I thought I'd copy the Hopkins poem here as an early-in-the-season reminder to launch into it at a pace that allows you to appreciate and take comfort in its hope-filled purpose. Enjoy. (The "bright wings" bit comes at the end.)

B.

God’s Grandeur

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.

It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.


And for all this, nature is never spent;

There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Christmas

I enjoyed it, but I'm glad it's over. Somehow I didn't get around to shopping online this year, so I actually had to go fight the mobs for three consecutive days to get it all done. On top of that, there were the countless side dishes to bring to various holiday events, cookies we had to make for Santa, the reindeer food to scatter on the front lawn for Rudolph and his entourage, and the task of staying up later than the kids on Christmas Eve so as to sneak their Santa gifts under the tree. This gets harder as the kids get older. Hannah, in particular, couldn't seem to call it a night.

Mom made an enormous spread that, as always, provided more than any of us could possibly consume (we all tried, believe me). She also let Karl and me have a hand in the dumplings, which was both courageous and slightly careless (though it turned out okay in spite of us!).

Now we prepare for the New Year, which for Karl and I will involve staying up as late as we can force ourselves (10pm if we're lucky) and then quietly calling it a night (and a year). Much less exciting than in our younger days, but it has a certain appeal nonetheless.

I hope all of you have a Happy New Year...one filled with family, friends, good books, great coffee, big thoughts, and a great deal for which to be grateful.