I have been waiting for inspiration to strike so I can write this December blog, but at this inspirational time of year, I find my mind is a bit over-inspired, and my body is constantly on the move. Today, however, I have a minute. I have emailed my family and sent out some recent photos of Jacob's Christmas play. We have been to church, fed the missionaries and the dishes are washing. The Christmas cards are addressed and waiting for the copies of the family letter, also finished today. We usually send a picture, but we just haven't gotten to it yet(by the way, check out the antlers growing out of Braeden's head). I think I may forego the plates of cookies I usually make... chewy ginger, minty candy canes, snickerdoodles, and frosted sugar cookies, but now that I see their names in front of me, how can I possibly? We will see. I have sewing to do, gift projects to finish. This year we are having an "old-fashioned" Christmas, keeping gifts simple. It is amazing how much more we think of what we really want to give when the budget is thin. It is far less stressful than being pulled a thousand different directions in the toy section. As I hum along to the carols playing all day, or steal a moment to sit and stare at the memory-inducing decorations and lights on our tree, I am subdued by thoughts of the goings on in the world: the wars and soldiers, families apart, natural disasters, world leaders in contention and struggle, deceit, the decay of morality...why our house in Washington hasn't sold yet, and what would I be getting Brandon for Christmas if it had. But, I was fortunate to view the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on Sunday morning last week, singing a carol I had not heard before, called "Nowell, Nowell, Nowell". The singers were joyous, exuberant, shouting in jubilation for the tiny baby born in Bethlehem who would save the world, even to the point of getting after the shepherds, asking, and I am paraphrasing, "How can you just stand there? You should be leaping and dancing and shouting for joy, sharing the news! This baby brings HOPE to us!" I am not often moved to tears, but I was. Because I have these weighty matters on my mind, because I wished I could give a bigger gift to my husband, and because this song reached out to those worries and plinked them like a piano wire (we had our piano tuned and the tuner told me there were about 2 tons of torque on those wires) and I realized that this joy, this is all we need, this hope. They say the heavens shouted, and I think we, all of us here, were part of that, and that is what I felt during that noisy, beautiful song... I remembered.
A merry, joyful, hopeful Christmas to you all.
