Posted By crates on December 25, 2007

    As I was gazing out of my bedroom window the other mornng, I happened to notice that the buds on the lilac bush had begun to swell and turn green.  I realized that it was the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, and that henceforth the days would progressively get longer.  I thought about seasons, and rhythms and the passage of time.

         I am reminded of that now as I sit here (working), twenty minutes into Christmas day.     Someone asked me what would I want to be doing on Christmas if I could have any wish in the world.   It didn’t take but a few seconds to know what I would do.

      I thought back on all the Christmas’ of the past and realized that it wasn’t the gifts that stood out, nor the glitter.   It was the warm memories of my extended family together in fellowship and love.  I think of the booming voice of my grandfather and the stories that he told; of my gentle grandmother and the incredible dishes that she made, of my mother, beautiful, loving and kind; of my father, quiet and strong, solid as a rock; of my brother and sister; my aunt and cousins, all together, all through the years, blending into a kind of warm golden glow.   If I had anything that I could have today on this Christmas, it would be to have all my family together again, eating and drinking, laughing and talking, reminiscing, and telling stories.

        It is cold and clear here at 12:45 am, and the moon is bright and luminous, just past the full, waning…waning like the calendar year.  But I remember the lilac buds and know that a new year has already begun, and that something more basic and fundamental is at work here than man’s division of time into arbitrary units.

Categories: nature, People, Personal Stuff
Tags: family, nature, passing of the seasons