The Delights of Christmas 2015

After our disaster with the turkey liquid slopping across the kitchen (for more, see this blog post), we had a delightful Christmas.  Of course, for me, most Christmas days are delightful--it's the time afterwards, as the season slips away, that can depress me.

Yesterday, I wrote this as a Facebook post:  "We've had a great Christmas, a wonderful Advent season, and an amazing Thanksgiving. I find myself wishing that it was the Monday before Thanksgiving so that I could experience it all again."

It's true:  our Thanksgiving was unusually satisfying, and I managed to attain balance during most days of Advent.  I loved Christmas Eve, and Christmas day was delightful too.  There are some Christmases that I am haunted by past Christmases and by how I wanted it to be but it wasn't--happily, this Christmas was calm, in terms of emotions.

There were the usual delights, the great food for example:

We ate inside; last year we balanced plates on our laps outside.  This year, I wanted to enjoy the trees and the Christmas music--and to avoid the heat and drenching humidity:

Our Christmas day took an unusual turn when we left at 1:10 to go to our church to be part of a group that took a peace lily and a card to the mosque that's down the street from our Lutheran church.  On the fourth Sunday in Advent, church members had an opportunity to write good wishes on the card:

It was an amazing experience, and for more on that, see this in-depth post on my theology blog.

It took longer than I anticipated, but if anyone dropped by while we were gone, we didn't find out about it.  We had invited lots of people, but in a casual way, over for the noon meal or for brisket later or for drinks or other treats.  But it was a low-key end to the day, which was fine.

We did go out for a brief drive to see a house in Dania Beach with an amazing light show.  The lights were synced to music. 

Photo by Pam Ward

On the way home, my spouse said, "Look at that moon."

Photo by Pam Ward

I need more of these reminders to look up, to appreciate the natural world and celestial light shows that rival our earthly creations.

This morning, as I was downloading photos from yesterday, I came across this one from our church's butterfly garden.  My spouse took it yesterday as we waited for the group to gather to go to the mosque.

Photo by Carl Berkey-Abbott

It's another good reminder of the beauty that surrounds me every day, the beauty that I often forget to notice.



butterfly garden flower that looks like a sea creature
Photo by Carl Berkey-Abbott