On time

I watched the film 'Polar Express' with my daughter, Hayley, yesterday. She is eleven and can't remember a Christmas Eve when we haven't read the book of the film together.

Today we watched A Christmas Carol and are going to listen to 'Carols from Kings' in a few minutes. My Auntie Minnie used to listen to that broadcast every Christmas Eve afternoon and I like to think that the family tradition lies with me to continue. Strange to think that is now happening just down the road in Cambridge.

Every Christmas there are timely reminders of magic and the hope and promise of the days and years ahead. It is never late but never early either; it always comes just on time.

Hayley wrote a poem this morning which I wanted to share, while wishing ever blog reader and writer a very Happy Christmas:


On time

I hear the sleigh bells ring -
A ring a ding ding.
Will he bring presents to me?
I will have to wait and see.
The light fades, the darkness falls,
I hope Santa is packing all his tools:
For it is Christmas time.
Tick, Tock, Tick.
To stay on time
He will have to be quick

Yule never hear this story

I enjoy stories, which is probably why I love to both listen or read or use what I've heard to base new stories and new characters on.

Every year, in the western world, we despair of the commercialism of Christmas and its emphasis on making some people happy through earning and spending money, nd others sad through the lack of it. All of this seems to take place earlier and earlier in the calendar year and we find ourselves looking back to snowy Christmas scenes and simple carols that told the 'true' story.

I was thinking about all of this, today. With three children we are all looking forward to Christmas. We think of Jesus but also of presents and games and a general optimism for the days ahead, together as a family.

Of course, this was the original point of Yule. This pagan festival was based on the winter solstice and included elements we recognize today such as decorating fir trees, bringing gifts to others and celebrating the certainty that the freezing winter would eventually be replaced by the warm and plentiful summer. In short, it was a celebration of life.

The early Christian writers took the Yule story and superimposed the Christmas story on it, so that Christmas Day became the focus of all things celebratory and optimistic, just as bankers and bakers and bookmakers do today.

When I walk out in the cold December air, I feel a certain warmth on the breeze. I believe in the Christmas story but also the Yuletide promise of a happy ending.