Because I wasn’t needed at rehearsal yesterday, I got on the road toward home at about 10:30, made a couple of stops on the way, and arrived home around 2:00. Smooth sailing, dry roads, none of the traffic that would have caused long delays on the interstate if I had been unable to depart until the evening. I’m very thankful for my friend Robyn, who is the stage manager. She managed to pack my schedule for Wednesday and Thursday with one-on-one sessions and that allowed me to finish my first round with the actors and leave early on Friday. Thank you, Robyn.
Today is rainy and sleety and not at all pleasant. But I’m home. I had a lovely afternoon and evening with my husband yesterday. Today there is laundry to be done, presents to be wrapped while listening to Christmas music, pine-scented candles to be lit, newspapers to be read, and maybe a coffee cake to be made. We’re not sure yet. Do we want the sugar? The decision needs to be made soon, as I will have to run to the store for the ingredients.
By the way, if my posts aren’t updating on the computer, it’s probably due to a caching plugin that Bluehost put on my blog. Grrr! Just go to my site, reload the page, and the new post should load.
I’m going to take the next two days off as I celebrate a quiet Christmas with my husband. I have to leave early Monday morning to get back to Hartford for an afternoon rehearsal. I’m grateful for these days at home to celebrate and give thanks for all of our blessings.
I’m not a preacher (though my mom had a secret wish for me to either be a preacher or a preacher’s wife – sorry, Mom!), but I do have some thoughts on Christmas and its true meaning:
I hope your Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are filled with love and joy. I send a wish for peace to all of you and to our world. I hope that this next year will see a change for the better in our citizens; less hate and fear, more love.
Those who celebrate Christmas as the day of Jesus’ birth must surely, deep within their heart of hearts, know that Jesus was pure love, a man who reached out to those in need, who welcomed refugees (indeed, was one himself), who looked on everyone as his brother/sister and knew the simple truth: We are all One. No matter what faith or creed, what ethnicity, what country of origin, what color of skin, what sexuality – We Are All One. Jesus would have been the first to speak out against the hatred and intolerance that fuels racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia and the “us against them” mentality that seems to be taking hold. He would have overturned the tables of the moneylenders and the rich who seek to profit at the expense of those who have less. He would have championed all those who work and fight for social equality and justice because that is what he knew to be right and of God. He would have reached out to the beggars and the lame and the sick and the lonely and the disenfranchised and those who were looked on as ‘other’ and he would have raised them up.
He knew Truth. And he always recognized those wolves who donned sheep’s clothing, who said one thing but did another.
So, as we celebrate his birth, what better way to honor him than to put into practice what he taught us? Otherwise, Christmas is just a hollow celebration, an excuse for gifts and tinsel and lights and all of the lovely hoopla of the holiday, with no substance at the core.
To you, my friends and readers, may you blessed this Christmas season and always. May those of you who have suffered loss be comforted. May those who are facing challenges be comforted and guided. May you give love and receive love. May you see all creatures as God’s creations. May you love and nurture your fellow man and all animals and plants and birds and bees and fish and the mountains and air and water and continents that make up our precious planet. They are gifts from God, all of them, that mustn’t be taken for granted or harmed or abused in any way.
End of my little sermon.
Merry Christmas from Don and me!
And Happy Saturday.
