the Five necessities for Xmas

1. Candles. Winter is a season of increasing and massive darkness and the eternal hope of new light. Lighting a candle is a powerful symbolic act. It brings awareness and vision. I wish I had taken pictures from last evening when the whole apartment was lit by islands of candles.

Cooking by candlelight was an interesting experience. at one point I think I used cinnamon instead of pepper!

2. Mistletoe. Any excuse to get kissing seems like a good one. It is very poisonous to digest unless you are a bird. According to ancient European custom, Mistletoe is hung (never touching the ground) to protect the house from fire and lightening. A good things when you have so many candles!

3. A red dress. Or any new dress. The holiday isn't a celebration unless you deck yourself up in finery to participate. I am going to add a bit of glitter with earrings and eye make-up.

4. Music. It's hard in the tropics to conjure up a white winter without a little song. Here is my favorite CD by Leesah Stiles.

5. A baby Jesus. It is what Christmas is all about. We celebrate the birth of new life and the awareness of God's love in our life. In a season where "the rivers turn to stone and the trees show their bones", (my friend Cait Johnson said that), we need the hope of planting a seed. Jesus was a seed. He brought love and showed us how to live on this earth with it. I can't find my creche. It's in storage or in an unlabeled box out of my awareness. So I gravitate to the fresh kittens outside, or the smiling toddlers in the stores. They are full of innocence, wonder, and still have the capacity for awe.

Bonus #6. We need gifts. gifts to show our affection for each other. Gifts to acknowledge the light between us. (Time to..uh no... go shopping.)