Saturday, December 13, 2008

Following the Cardinals' Example

A trio of cardinals flits from branch to branch on the wintry tree outside.  The just-lightening sky mutes their color, but as living ornaments their presence is a happy beginning to the morning.  Midway through the season, most of the "events" in which we are involved are completed, leaving the days in front of us available for simply living into the season.  Christmas cards have begun to stack up that need more careful reading, and though the tree has been decorated for a couple of weeks now there are more than a few of the ornaments that have special stories waiting to retell.  We dug out the Christmas music books, but we have yet to sit down at the keyboard and finger through the duets or sing through the favorites.  We really haven't given much thought to the gift-giving that, if we aren't careful, will become quickly urgent, and perhaps tonight will afford the first occasion to nestle into Holiday Inn with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, or White Christmas with Bing and Danny and Rosemary and Vera.

There is this perennial tension between the experience of the Christmas season and the sometimes-distracting mechanics of the celebration -- between the spirit and the demands.  The tension is nothing new, and the demands are hardly onerous; the challenge is simply keeping them in balance.  The mechanics -- decorating, cooking, shopping, writing, mailing, even partying -- should animate the experience, not suffocate it, but it is a ratio unfortunately easy to invert. 

The cardinals outside have settled for a moment.  No longer flitting from branch to branch, they seem content to simply sit and survey the view around them, peck around on something interesting, and enjoy each other's company.  Having done our share of flitting around, ourselves, that wouldn't be a bad example for those of us on this side of the window as well.


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