Thankful for transitions

Sometime over the upcoming weekend, the Christmas tree stand will be repainted and repaired. If it doesn't leak, I'll be pleasantly surprised and very thankful. Part of the repairs involved replacing the gasket around the bolt that holds the base and the stand together. One of our local weather persons claims that this will be the weekend to put up Christmas lights. We'll put that on our list, along with cutting down a tree and collecting some branches or small trees for front porch decorations. This year I find myself longing for the good old days when I didn't have to consider the carbon footprint of cutting down a Christmas tree. At least Santa's reindeer don't use jet fuel.

time for Christmas lights to go up

Photo by J. Harrington

Thanksgiving is one week away. We've been listing lots of different things about which we're thankful. In part, that's because we've been finding ourselves getting too angry, too cynical, too often as we track what's been going on in Washington, D.C. and, to a much lesser degree, in St. Paul. Listing some, but far from all, of what we have to be thankful for has been one way we've been trying to get into the Spirit of the Season instead of becoming another Scrooge.

even short, Winter days have beautiful beginnings

Photo by J. Harrington

In some ways, it's been hard to notice the daylight getting shorter, since many days the overcast skies never provided much contrast between day and night. Soon, though, in fact, a month from today, it will be the Winter Solstice and then, Christmas. As this year winds down, we'll look back and see what we wish we had done better or more often (or not done at all) and, for next year, plan adjustments. That's one of the nice things about the upcoming cold, snowy, stormy season. It's time to hunker down in the house and take stock. What we aren't thankful for we can let go of so that we don't carry it forward into the new year and the lengthening days. But first, we'll join with family and friends to celebrate this year's joys and pleasures.

When Giving Is All We Have 

Alberto Ríos - 1952-

                                              One river gives
                                              Its journey to the next.

We give because someone gave to us.
We give because nobody gave to us.

We give because giving has changed us.
We give because giving could have changed us.

We have been better for it,
We have been wounded by it—

Giving has many faces: It is loud and quiet,
Big, though small, diamond in wood-nails.

Its story is old, the plot worn and the pages too,
But we read this book, anyway, over and again:

Giving is, first and every time, hand to hand,
Mine to yours, yours to mine.

You gave me blue and I gave you yellow.
Together we are simple green. You gave me

What you did not have, and I gave you
What I had to give—together, we made

Something greater from the difference.

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