My friends, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, between that and the coming of the New Year this is certainly a time of year in the western world when the presence of Christmas and New Year advertisements and discussions and preparations are ubiquitous to the degree that many of us still get drawn into the whole element of assessing our lives and our places in both the temporal and our inner worlds. It’s not a bad practice to do a bit of examination and evaluation from time to time anyhow, I think. Regardless of beliefs and philosophies, hopes and dreams, politics and projects, we can all benefit from a bit of gentle thinking-through about what matters to us. Somehow, for me that makes the end of a calendar year a cleansing time and a happy one in which I can look forward to a grand and hopeful entrance into the year just ahead.
With that in mind, I wish all of you great happiness in this time. I hope that you can find all the friendship, healing, comfort, peace and joy you desire, now and in the year ahead. And if you do celebrate Christmas, I wish you a truly happy one. If it’s Hanukkah for you, L’Chaim! If you’re preparing to celebrate any other holy days or holidays or are simply going forward full steam ahead with life, I send you my most heartfelt wishes for these delights to fill you now and in the year to come.
Ringing Twelve
As the midday bells are sounding,
Morning light sharpens to blue,
Quiet moments find their grounding;
Thought needs no more things to do
To resolve all unsolved queries,
Weary, troubled, trying times–
Now thoughts rise to higher aeries
In the bell tower, where chimes
Ring new peace, and calm awaken,
Where new joy can sweep away
All the old thoughts, now forsaken,
At the bright noon of the day.
Fanfare
With trumpets blazing bright as stars
The grand procession moves apace
To urge us from a darker place
Into the light no shadow mars
Nor chill cuts in; no drop of gloom
Can enter when this day springs forth
And blossoms cross the secret north
And leave no sorrow any room—
Let each take up the pageant’s pace
To follow at the trumpets’ call
And sing their joy to one and all
In this extremity of space
Art-Colored Glasses 
Olá, escrevi um poema e gostaria de receber o seu ponto de vista. Já te agradeço!!!
http://robertvinicius.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/a-arte/
Dear Robert,
I’ll have a bit of trouble responding to your poetry quickly. I don’t read Portuguese and it doesn’t appear that the Google Translate program is especially great at translating exactly enough for poetic meaning, so I shall have to estimate a response as well. But I’m pleased you are working at poetry and will have a look after the holidays are over.
Kathryn
Profound and beautiful.
Merry Christmas, or whatever your having out there.
“…Have a multi-cultural, gender neutral, nonsectarian, unambiguous, ovolacto, vegetarian, nature-loving, sweet agrarian, anti-looting, nonpolluting, non-fur-wearing, all encompassing celebration, unless you don’t want to because this is your holiday.”
–The Therapy Sisters —
what he said.. love it! eat well,have fun.. love c
Thanks to both of you! I/we have been having a lovely holiday so far. Looking forward to several more days away from intensive work, but also with a fun visit from R’s brother and his family (from out of state) that we just arranged today. Christmas is such a lovely time. 🙂
Dear Kathryn, I wish you the best of time with your loved ones, much reflection and a grand entrance into this coming New Year. I will hopefully be able to contact you soon and we’ll see what will come of it. Blessings to you for the comfort your words bring me 🙂
Thank you, dear lady. I’ll have a look at the calendar tonight to see if I can arrange to come to the airport and see you for a little bit. I hope so! All the best to you. 🙂
I hope the Holidays prove to be very enjoyable and memorable for you, Kathryn, and all whom you hold dear.
Thank you, John, and I wish you the same. So far so good, down this way!!
I hope Christmas was joyful for you. I am taking a moment to breathe after the frenzy of the holiday, which I somehow survived (!).
DEEP breaths! Christmas was just right, hereabouts. Christmas Eve day: attending part of the noon service to hear the new Youth Choir (Richard, as interim Choirmaster there, supervises the whole choral program); attending the whole 2 pm Family Service to hear the Children and Cherubs sing their version of Lessons and Carols (pretty adorable, as you’d guess); R conducting the adult choirs in the 5 pm Christmas Eve traditional Eucharist service; a great 2-part progressive dinner with the choirs and additional musicians (appetizers and drinks at one place, then main course and dessert at the second); finally, R conducting the Chancel [auditioned adult] Choir in the 10:30 pm candlelight service with full Anglican ceremony and regalia; and then: home (just after 1 a.m.). So our ideal Christmas: Nothing. We stayed home, just us two (didn’t even go to a Sunday service), slept in, took a modest walk in the neighborhood, ate roast beef and mashed potatoes in front of the fire, and slouched into a stupor in the evening. Heavenly!
I am fatigued just reading this!!! Thank God for the occasional stupor!
Love the poem “Stellar” and its accompanying picture. May that brilliance shine on you in this coming year.
Thank you, my friend, and I wish you a brilliant year as well.
Thank you for your words and images Kathryn. Gorgeous.
You are so kind, Bella. I wish you much light and peace and beauty in your life too.
Particularly like Fanfare, and I hope you had a great Christmas and that you have a happy New Year. 🙂
Thank you, Dennis, glad you like! Yes, Christmas was very nice and I’m looking forward to the New Year immensely. Hope the same for you! I doubt it was as *warm* here over Christmas as there. 🙂
Your Stellar poem is my favorite.. being a lover of all thing celestial:) I’m glad your Christmas was just perfect for you… what a lovely amount of music to make it so!
Maybe your name ought to have been Celestina! I could see it working . . . 🙂
Yes, our Christmas was crammed with music-making, and that is *not* a bad thing! New Year’s Day will be musical as well, falling on a Sunday. A fine start to what I plan on as being a spectacular year in every way. Wishing you the same!!
Kathryn