December 18, 2011

So here we are three days until Yule, seven until Christmas and the New Year lurking just beyond the candle's glow. This is the week that shopping and crafting get their finishing touches. Baking will begin in earnest as the kitchen warms up to the sweet spicy scent of cinnamon and brown sugar. We will wrap packages and make merry with our friends and loved ones.
This is the time of the year when I often think about how much simpler I wish things were. One inevitably hears about the brotherhood of man, the peace and joy that suffuses the spirit of all people and the spirit of giving that compels all to share. It just isn't so though. We have been taken over by a drunken sense of entitlement and greed spurred on by a massive corporate machine that values money above all else...our health, our peace, our very lives. Amidst the music on the radio that cannot even be called carols...no decking halls with holly or falalalas, no good kings, three kings or even a silver bell... there is only a generic assortment of cartoon sentimentality and the idea of 'hooking up on Christmas or all is lost'. We could all use a few of the lessons that Scrooge learned, a man described by his nephew, Fred, thus:  "The less Scrooge knows, the more stubbornly Scrooge knows it!"
There are so many who fit this description perfectly.
I looked out at the snow blanketing the trees this morning and thought how beautiful is the earth in Her mantle of white. It reminded me of a winter song I know..
."In winter snow is beautiful, Beautiful like a song,
In winter fire is beautiful, All of the winter long..."
When I think of Christmas and of ancient Yule, I think of how much more it means when a gift is given that has been touched by human hands, made with skill, care and love. A lot of people have lost touch with the value of receiving one special thing that is not dropped off of a conveyor belt or made by a slave in China somewhere. For the life of me I can't figure out why anyone would want something whose origins began with destruction and exploitation.
With those thoughts in mind, I set to work this morning making a batch of organic lavender lip balm. I make the balm in small batches so it is always freshly made. We'll make a batch of cinnamon balm tomorrow.
I hope you will take some time to look out into the world, wherever you live, with new eyes. Appreciate the beauty of what we have. Maybe reach out a hand to someone who has less than you. Try wrapping your gifts in brown paper or even cloth. Give gifts that mean something, that will be lovingly used and treasured, not something it will be hard-pressed to remember on Easter, let alone next December. Make a Yuletide to remember. Let's make a pact to take the season away from the machine and the gifts off the conveyor belt. I'll meet you outside with a lantern and we'll go caroling together. Look for me at the end of the lane.