festive season

This Darkest Day
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This Darkest Day

 

Hail, oh you awesome ones.

The winter solstice is upon us, the shortest day of the year.  The longest night, the darkest day.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/sciencefair/2015/12/20/winter-solstice-first-day-of-winter/77667242/  The Winter Solstice

A multitude of shiny lights, shine a path of glittery colours as we walk through the town.  Christmas lights, Christmas joy, the night will fade and pass as we cover our homes with bright lights and dazzling displays of colour, to greet you.  The longest night becomes the most brilliant night as we pass along the streets, admiring the creativity and the view.

The sleepy Earth covers her head with a soft blanket of snow and we, on the surface rise to the grandeur of the holiday season.  It is with great joy, that we welcome this darkest night, and we sing the praises of the divine.  It is with great joy that we welcome this holiday season and sing the praises of the creator.  This most awesome dark night, this most awesome short day, will start a holiday time of peace, sharing and goodwill.  This most awesome winter solstice, will mark the start of a journey to celebration of joy most high.  The joy of the great divine.  The joy of song, of merriment, of laughter, of togetherness.

Hail, all you brave ones.  The journey to peace and happiness starts with your courage to pursue it, your unrelenting devotion to it. Hail all you brave ones, this shortest of days is a praiseworthy day.  A day to sing, to turn on the Christmas lights, to light the way for others.  This is the great, high holiday season, full of light, brightness and joy.  It starts with the shortest day, the longest night, the most dark and the most joyous, festive season.  This is a good day. No, a great day.  This day is a blessing to us.

Shine your lights, oh joyous merrimakers.  Sing and play and rejoice!  The holiday season is upon us. Fill your day with grateful praises, fill your lives with love and sharing, fill your homes with warmth and friendship.  These long, dark days of winter are a wonderful time of celebration.

Bright lights, sparking streets, festive  homes, good cheer, good will, joy!  This is the season of joy!

Snow, you dark and blizzardy sky, bring us the storms of winters night.  We step out into the cold and smile.  The winter.  A fabulously special time of year, with fun, celebration, holiday, good cheer and snow.

Inside each warm and comfortable home, stockings hang by the fire.  A tree is erected with lights and ornaments, bright and cheerful, festive and fun.   The home smells of baking and holiday making, the fire lights our path.  We sing with praises and gladness.  This dark, long night, gives us a great gift.  It gives us winter!  It starts with a holiday, so immense that the whole world sings.  It gives us praises to the great divine and praises to the one on high.  We, the world of mortal beings, rise in song and celebration.  Hail, you most brilliant being, light our world on this dark day and rise to sing and dance with us. For joy and celebration is upon us and we rejoice in it.  Blessed winter, blessed holiday, blessed  holy one.

Sing, all you wonderful ones, for on this short and dark day, we are given a gift of great tidings.  We are given a holiday, a celebration and a miracle.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

December 21, 2015

The Wonderful Winter
by

The Wonderful Winter

Hail, all you awesome ones!

The temperatures fall.  It’s cold outside.  Time to pull out the woollies, change to thermals and warm, specialized fabrics.  Time to pull out the sleighs, toboggans, skates, skis, snowboards, snowmobiles and snowshoes.  Time for winter!  Time for that specialized season of cold!

The sidewalk is bare from constant shoveling, drifts pile high and the car won’t start.  The giddiness of the festive season is upon us.  Bright lights, holiday cheers, warm welcomes, smiles and gifts.  A fabulous start to the quiet of winter, as we spend our money, plan our holidays and wish each other well, as winter’s nasty colds poke their way in. The headiness of a bustling summer is behind us.  Time to take a break and relax by the fire, bake up a storm and be happy.  Happy to relax, to watch our favourite sport, to sing holiday carols and to play in the fantastic snow!  Our economic wonder, snow!  A blessing that we don’t pay for, brought to you by the great planet.  Enjoy your winter!

We head off to ice caves, ice water falls, frozen rivers and slippery surfaces.  We head off to natural wonder, to awesome delight in the planetary change.  We are tourists in our own town, visiting the sites, bragging about the awesome wonder of the scenery, drinking the local brew and listening to the home grown bands.  We know everyone. Every face is familiar.  Each store has it’s unique specialty and the restaurants offer discounts to us starving hoards, who savor the goodness of every bite.  Laughing and playing, we love this season.  It gives us time to visit.

As wonderful as life is in the carefree summer, winter brings it’s own delight.  For those of us here in this tiny, multicultural town, winter brings us time.  Time to refresh, time to enjoy, time to stay awhile, to visit and to reunite with each other.

The festive season is starting, preparations are being made.  Holiday parties, good friends, family and cheer.  The warmth of the season, when the cold is put at bay.  A change in season is good for us.  It lets us rejoice in a whole new splendor.  Indoor coziness, outdoor frigidness, harmony, balance and avoiding frostbite.  We love this cold winter weather, when the great outdoors turns on the lights early, and we can view the splendor of the stars, planets, even the northern lights in an early, after dinner hour show.

The moon shines a path of white and the glistening snow sparkles and shines our way.  The sun sets early and rises late and the dark is upon us.  We rise in the dark, go home in the dark, and are thankful for the blessings that inventors make.

Hot chocolate and ginger snaps, sweets and treats, this is the time of year to be happy.  A blessing to share, carols to sing, a jingling of jingle bells, rings and rings.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

November 29, 2015