christmas

1) One skill I did not inherit from my mother is exquisite gift wrapping. You can look under the tree and know which ones she wrapped by sight -- and which she didn't. It doesn't help that she was a professional wrapper in a department store. I can put the paper on decently, but I just don't have that finesse with ribbon. I should, after years of decorating special order chocolate boxes.

2) The church my family goes to does a Christmas Eve service that has become pretty institutional among those frequenting the congregation. It's so popular that they've moved to two services in the last few years -- neither of which is actually in the evening, but that's okay. Actually, our service started at 3 p.m.

The pastor is someone I deeply respect, at the very least as a rhetorician, almost in a Garrison-Keilloresque style. He has a quieter sermon style that is very attractive (and very un-Baptist) and is, frankly, I think the reason at least half the people attend that church. It also helps that he is the father of a friend, one of those kind of friends who is the sunshine of your life, one of those people it's heartbreaking to see unhappy. It reminds you how cruel the world is.

Anyhow, the pastor brought up an anecdote he heard about a daycare in Cabrini-Green, a dangerous neighborhood in downtown Chicago, and one of the most dangerous in the U.S. (It especially resonated with me because I was in Cabrini-Green just about this time last year and saw these people and their homes.) A mission group of sometime was visiting the daycare, and they brought presents. One of the little boys said he didn't believe in Santa or didn't like Santa, because Santa hadn't brought him any presents the year before. One of the men from the group gave the boy a present and explained that the reason for Christmas is the birthday of Jesus, who was born long ago in one of the worst places in Bethlehem, and instead of a cradle he slept in a trough and lived in a barn because the world cared so little about him. And we know from that story that there is no place so terrible that God is not there.

Of course he was far more eloquent, but it was very powerful.

3) Christmas in Minnesota is picturesque not only for the snow but for the natural and abundant pines and spruces growing. We have five just in our yard. And directly across from our front yard is a young pine grove -- well, middle-aged. I remember before they were planted, but now they're almost full-grown and you can't see anything but a line of pines.