I wrote this last year, when Christmas shopping was still a thing, and teachers taught at schools. I couldn't have known then--none of us could--how much more true it would be this year. Distances and longing, indeed. I was browsing in a new store a couple of weeks ago. Strains of an old and favorite … Continue reading Longing for the light
Christmas
Longing for the light
I wrote this last year, when Christmas shopping was still a thing and teachers taught at schools. So much has changed. I couldn't have known then--none of us could--how much more true and real the distances and longings and general not-ok-ness would be this year. But the story itself has always been about exactly that. … Continue reading Longing for the light
Not ok….and yet
There are so many things not ok in our world today, this day, Christmas Eve. There are big, public things that just about everyone knows, things that so many of us are just worried sick about. There are small, private things too, things in our family that are not ok. Things that hardly anyone and … Continue reading Not ok….and yet
Door Number One
Advent, the season of watchful waiting, begins today. Not in the official liturgical kind of way, which I think must start at church this Sunday, but in the childish kind of way. The one that begins with that first colorful and numbered cardboard door, opening the way to Christmas. The Christmas season kicked off, when … Continue reading Door Number One
How to knit a grown up
The holidays are over now, for real. Every young adult iteration of Christmas break—from the all-too-brief workaday kind to the endless weeks-on-end college kind—has ended. The “big kids” are gone. They have returned now to their parallel universes: their schools, jobs, and lives in townhouses, apartments, and smaller apartments where they live, places that, I … Continue reading How to knit a grown up
I can’t even
I hate to mention this, Moms of the World, though it is a truth that you already know. Christmas is drawing near. We are all running out of time. And because we are moms, and there is always so much around the holidays—even if our shopping is done and our wrapping is complete, even if … Continue reading I can’t even
Being Santa
I have lost my job. I only just realized this today. It happened so gradually that I didn't even notice the signs, though clearly I should have. Like many who work in the same position for a long time, I'd become good at it, and I took a lot of pride in the work I … Continue reading Being Santa
Becoming Real
The Velveteen Rabbit has never sounded quite the same to me since breast cancer. I always found Margery Williams’ classic tale to be a somewhat dark and tragic and not at all Christmas-y story, what with the incidence and management of scarlet fever, and the burning of the child’s toys and all. But my kids … Continue reading Becoming Real
Opening doors
Advent, the season of watchful waiting, begins today. Not in the official, liturgical, grown up kind of way, which I think must start this coming Sunday, but in the other, childish kind of way. The one that commences December 1st and that begins with that first little, colorful, and numbered cardboard door opening the way … Continue reading Opening doors
More than enough
Sisters, many of us are all running around like crazy people today. It is very nearly Christmas and it is always, always the sisters who are making the world go around this time of year. I have one word I'm trying to keep in my head today - maybe you have problems with it, too? … Continue reading More than enough
Whose holiday is it, anyway?
I have been up since 4:40 am. I have been awake because although I have had the holiday cards stacked on the bookshelf since December 7, I cannot get the address labels to print and I have not had time to hand-write them. I left a gift for my niece Greta in my Amazon shopping … Continue reading Whose holiday is it, anyway?
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