The Gifts of the Magi Visit

 The Monday before Christmas, I opened my emails and found an e-card from a student I only taught for a week.  She told me I helped her understand the assignment and thanked me for substituting when her teacher was ill.  

In that moment, I felt overpaid to have received such thanks.   

In class that afternoon, a student revealed they didn't think they'd receive gifts for Christmas in the midst of the chatter in a Zoom lesson.  Within hours, after an exchange of emails, they received food and a little something to make the time away even from this virtual experience of school, more pleasant, more celebratory.   

I waited for the third king of Christmas.  We'd had wisdom and with it gratitude, and we'd had need answered.  That afternoon, we needed to get to a therapy appointment, and found ourselves going through a live nativity display on the way home.  My daughter delighted in the beauty and the joy and the imaginative creation of the early part of Christ's life and her happiness became mine.  

It's easy to get jaded and tired and overwhelmed, especially in this year that could be defined almost exclusively in negative and unhappy terms.  Yet this year has brought with it the secret joy of time, time with our family that would otherwise be in commute, time together at meals that would normally be on the road or rushed, and time in the evening, when we might be going to a thousand extra curricular activities.  Instead, we are here.  

God has given us in this time, the gift we would not give ourselves, time with each other.   God has given us in this time, a gift we've ignored, the opportunity to rest, to eat, to be with those we love, to have ordinary time beyond what would ordinarily be possible. 

This Christmas, practice the wisdom of the three kings that visited me in the Advent season, be thankful and make a point of thanking others.  Be alert to the needs of others as they are voiced, even when they are voiced by what is not said.  Take delight in beauty, because that's the purpose of beauty.   And, recognize that God always offers us gifts in every age, in every time, in all circumstances.  They are often the gifts we lack the will to provide for ourselves or others. They contain in them, peace not of this world, and joy only possible in the company of others.   

Merry Christmas! 

FREE THE CHRISTMAS CAROLS!

 For the past fifteen years or so, the local radio station has played 24-7 Christmas carols from November 15th on and my kids love it.   I have a love hate relationship with the station, because they seem intent every year on fixing a rotation that includes about 25 songs and 10 reserve rookies that they pull up durring off hours.   It means you will hear all 35 in the rotation in about three hours if there are no repeats.  Since there are always repeats, you will hear all 35 songs at least three times a day.   Bottom line, it will get old fast. 

My kids bought me an Alexa for my birthday last year, and I thought this would solve the problem, but Alexa has her own opinions about music and as much as you might ask for "We need a little Christmas" from That Christmas Feeling, you'll get the Glee version.  If you ask for Christmas music in general, you'll get the 35 rotation set.   Now I know, there are many more Christmas songs, good, bad, sappy, syrupy and great, modern and old, jazzed and country, choral and orchestral than get played by either Alexa or the station, but they're somehow locked away by the algorithms.   

I have a solution. I've become deliberate with Alexa and the radio station, making specific requests for songs that need more airtime.  I'm hoping hearing a human voice asking for human voices will get somewhere.  So far, I've found out you can irritate a robot and that no one is at the station taking our calls.  I'm not discouraged, I'm determined.   Singing acapella works for the Penatonix because they can sing.  Singing my favorites to Alexa might be what causes the eventaul A.I. uprising against the fleshy ones, but I'm determined to remind the powers that be that make decisions about what will and won't be heard that there are worse things to shatter the silence than songs by other than the pre-tested 35 selected chestnuts of the season, so that maybe when I call again, they'll pick up the phone.  

Feat of the Epiphany

 A few years ago, the lights went out in my laundry room and in the pantry.   We put in new bulbs, checked the fuses and tried several unsuccessful work arounds --battery operated and motion sensor lights.  Nothing worked. Not really.  We grew used to hitting the flashlight on our phones when we'd need to search for herb de provence or needed to find the fabric softener.  

This past week, the repairman we asked to help with some tile work, fixed both lights.  

My children and I remain in the dark on this matter.  We walk in like we've always walked in, searching the shadows for the couscous or the bounce dryer sheets, and someone (who will feel quite superior in the moment), will say, "You know, the light switch works." and flick it accordingly with all the smugness they can muster.  However, everyone's been caught groping through the darkness in either the landry room or pantry closet, so everyone's been the smug and the mugged by smugness at least twice.    

None of us remember.  None of us even remember we were the ones who did the mocking last time.  Lost in the moment when we've decided to move along the wash or hunt for the hot chocolate mix, we've now resorted to explaining why we didn't turn on the lights.  The following may or may not have been used by any or all of those of us who use those two rooms on a regular basis and do not flick the switch. 

10) Batman defense: I can see in the dark. 

9) Starwars defense:I don't need to see what I'm doing, I am one with the force and the force is one with me...

8) Saving the earth by saving energy. --this would work if any other lights in the house were turned off ever...

7) Just hadn't made it over to the light switch yet.  --this is mine, I'll get to it..no one buys my stalling thoough.  

6)  Preserving the light switch. It's been so long since we've had one, we're having attachment issues with the mechanism.  

5) Can't find the light switch --because it's dark and it's been so long, we don't remember where it is in the room.   

4) I turned it on, someone else turned it off just to mess with me.    I'd believe this if any of us ever remembered in the first place. 

3) The lightbulbs burnt out.  One of my older sons attempted this one, and I went to get the ladder, resulting in the Reagan policy, "Trust but verify." 

2) I have my cell phone --old habits die hard.   

1) I remembered after I walked in,but knew someone else would take care of it.  (It kind of deflates the smug factor if you bank on others taking care of the task for you) --not sure if it's true, fairly sure it isn't.   

There is hope for change. Today, I found the closet with the light left on...