Hear me as I am...

beenthinking

Christmas night always held a weight of melancholy. A sort of sadness in having received what you wanted only to find the allure was in the anticipation all along. Or not having received what you wanted and enduring the particularly lonesome work of being an adult. Getting over it and feigning contentedness because at this point, the world doesn’t care all that much about what we wanted. And what we Want usually far pales in comparison to what we Need anyhow. But this year, as the kids retrieve their new favorite books and half broken toys and scramble into a warmed car that surges off into the dark night toward their own home, it feels not so much like anti-climax but calm. All is calm.

For once, it still seems as though the best is yet to come. And whatever distance still keeps us from those we love  and what we need seems sure to be surmounted by the New Year.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;

O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

(Source: rottinghaus)