Where Christmas Can Be Found!

Ever since the Holy Star pointed to the location of the Christ Child's manger, the tradition of celebrating Christmas and bearing gifts to those we love has filled the Winter season. Throughout December, Christmas is celebrated with the joy and excess of the groaning side-board, the enormous, glittering Christmas tree, singing of carols, outdoor lighting that has reached outrageous proportions. It is fun, and exciting, and racous, and delightful none-the-less.

But Christmas can also be found in quiet places of reflection. The further back you go in history, Christmas looked very different, definitely a religious feast day, and with very little gifting save something needed, or prized, like oranges! It was a real treat to receive a beautiful piece of the golden citrus, from some far-away exotic land!

And where were these exotic lands? If it were not for exploration and sailors finding Land, Ho! we would still think we could fall off the horizon line.

Sailors were at sea for months or even years at a time, making landfall to pick up supplies, or make repairs, and then they were on their way again. Once such sailor, that sailed for over 43 years, was British-born George Hodge. He worked shipboard from 1790 to 1833. He was self-educated and began a journal to document his journeys. He stepped aboard at age 13, and worked below decks. He not only wrote about the life, but drew as well. His diary was discovered not too long ago in the United States.

One of his entries regards Christmas: On Christmas Day in 1806 he writes: "Employ'd in wartering ship and seting up the riger ... fish for dinner." 
That's the long and short of it! But he did make note of the date.

I often remember the passage from Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" that describes the people at sea in a storm:

"Again the Ghost (of Christmas Present) sped on, above the black and heaving sea -- on, on -- until, being far away, as he told Scrooge, from any shore, they lighted on a ship. They stood beside the helmsman at the wheel, the look-out in the bow, the officers who had the watch; dark, ghostly figures in their several stations; but every man among them hummed a Christmas tune, or had a Christmas thought, or spoke below his breath to his companion of some bygone Christmas Day, with homeward hopes belonging to it. And every man on board, waking or sleeping, good or bad, had had a kinder word for another on that day than on any day in the year; and had shared to some extent in its festivities; and had remembered those he cared for at a distance, and had known that they delighted to remember him."

This year a great deal of the Christmas Season for me has been spent at the bedside of my Dad who is in a rehab/nursing facility suffering the ravaging effects of later-stage Pakinson's disease. It is heart-breaking to see a man so full of life reduced to the shell of the person I have known and counted on all my life.

But, still, Christmas is to be found even here. I have received many presents already, though they are different than expected. I have the gift of seeing the strength of my family, pulling together to be helpful at this time. I have the gift of friends who have called me to offer help, or prayers, or to relay a funny or happy story. They sustain me. The staff at the facility are compassionate and kind which is a gift. People always hear nightmare stories of nursing homes. It is not always true. I have the gift of being able to assist my Dad, even if only to wheel him down the hall of the facility to see the Christmas tree, or help him enjoy a couple spoonfuls of his favorite smoothie. I have the ears to hear his whispered voice, when he asks for something. I have the gift of him reaching for my hand, and telling me I am his pal.

We must remember that the Christ Child was born, not in the lap of luxury, but in a crude and cold barn. But, His Light brings warmth to all the world, a Light that fills even the darkest space. And here, then, is where Christmas is found.

Merry Christmas to all! God bless you, one and all!