Thursday, December 09, 2004

it begins...

We've gotten three Christmas cards already. Four, if you count the one from a former student that came to me in the office today, but that one's not freaking me out so much. That one was newsy and fun. The others sit on my dining room table rebuking me for not writing a Christmas letter yet, not even thinking about holiday cards (maybe I have some left over from previous years in a drawer in the bottom of the chest in the living room?), not buying a tree, not having Christmas presents already bought and wrapped...

It's Advent. It's a season of waiting, of anticipation, of preparation. For me that preparation involves grading and planning next semester and taking a few days to bake cookies, in addition to (sometimes instead of?) some quiet meditation, some time spent contemplating the darkness of the season. It's too soon for lights. It's too soon for cards. My letter usually goes out in January, before Epiphany, still during the twelve days...

I haven't opened the cards on the dining table yet. They can wait another few days.

1 comment:

Wormwood's Doxy said...

This entry made me laugh!! Ours in the ONLY house on our street that isn't lit up for Christmas yet. One of my neighbors timidly asked me "Do you guys do Christmas?" I guess she thought we might be Jewish since I haven't gotten the wreaths and the lights out of the attic.

And I never send out my holiday letters until after December 25th. One of the best things about being Episcopalian is that it gives you until January 6th to get the darned things finished and mailed... ;-)