Early Morning Thoughts on Christmas Day

PEACE ON EARTH,
.... please?

Just about every house in the neighborhood--in fact, the entire sector here--"lights up" at Christmas time. Snow everywhere, and those beautiful, magnificent sparkling lights at night... it's almost magical.

Am looking out my window this morning and everything is gray. Due to the heavy winds yesterday the cedar trees out back mightily shook their branches, sending bits of twigs and cones that now litter the once-pristine snow-blanket. The inflatable Santa on the porch across the street, beaming robustly last night beneath the twinkling lights, now hangs limp and airless. They'll pump him up again tonight when darkness descends and the holiday lights get turned on for the evening display--another picture-book Christmas. But this morning, it's the grayness that permeates: gray sky, gray snow, gray air, waiting for the sun to show its face.

The New Year's supposed to be about hope, at least most people hope that things will be better than the preceding year(s). A much-loved family uncle is spending the holidays in the hospital, his wife and son and daughter and brother all taking turns to sit with him, in hourly shifts, as he battles cancer from his bedside. My 80-year old neighbor is celebrating Christmas alone, with her little dog. The city is still asleep.

....

Back again, later, at the computer. The aroma of fresh coffee, the cats happily snoozing, it's so quiet (except for the furnace chugging away in the basement), and patches of blue are beginning to appear in the sky, yay.

Speaking of hope, I read an article this morning that suggests that current events may not ALL be speeding us toward "despair, fascism and madness":

Maybe we can take some guidance from this tiny nation at the center of the earth. -- Greg Palast


THIS sort of story to me is the hope for the future of our world.
-- Roger Anderson

It was shared with me; I'd like to share it with you:
Good and Evil at the Center of the Earth: A Quechua Christmas Carol

A Merry Christmas and enjoyable holiday to all!

(I MISS YOU, my little family bubs so many miles away!!)