ADVENT ALPHABET continued

 D = DARTS

My mother was and remains a total, amazing gift that we were blessed to have as our mum. She shone even more during the holidays; from decorations, to cookies, to meals, to rituals both new and old, to the gifts she thoughtfully purchased, Dorothy made Christmas amazing for her family.

When her two grandsons were the ages of five and nine, Mom decided to buy them a gift she knew they'd really enjoy...a total Dorothy Snyder thing to do.  Note: we are a family of hunters. In our family one quickly learns to ask "what season is it?" The grandsons dad, my brother, is a successful hunter and he shared the love of hunting with his sons. Keeping that in mind, Dorothy decided a great gift for the grandsons would be....of course.....blow darts. 

Though she thought she was purchasing a toy....nope....Mom bought the grandsons real blow dart guns ---- the kind with the metal tipped darts....serious stuff

Of course, the grandsons loved the gift! My brothers thought it was tremendous and quickly assembled a large cardboard box, blew up balloons and affixed them to the target.  A good portion of Christmas day was spent hearing the "pfffft" "smack" and "pop" of an actual blow dart being shot and hitting its target.  Echoing in the background was my mother's refrain, "O, my....I really thought it was a toy....I would never have bought a real weapon for two small children......"

E = ECHOES

In the stillness of the season, pause, be silent, listen.  One will hear plainly the voices of those persons with whom one has shared the wonder and warmth of Christmas. A photo, a gift received, a story, a remembrance ---- don't rush onto the next thing ---- give yourself a minute, or longer, and be still and allow the person to be present to you once again.  Gift yourself the echoes of their voices and their laughter.

F = FAKE

In a season celebrating the Incarnation of God in Jesus becoming human and dwelling with us, I am a stickler for the real stuff.  I rarely scored congregational points when I would strongly suggest having a real Christmas tree in the sanctuary, which, to properly fill that large a space, required a seriously sized tree. Having the live tree up for over a month needed some blessed building trustee being responsible for watering and cleaning up the fallen needles.  I admit that I stretched their notions of peace and goodwill towards all. 

So too, I wanted real pine boughs or cedar branches on the windowsills and for goodness sakes don't even mention plastic, battery-operated candles!  Somewhere it must be written that Christmas Eve candlelight MUST use actual candles. What little kid doesn't like to play with fire.....there are enough adults surrounding that all is fine. GET REAL!