These Little Lights of Ours

I remember at a Young Friends New Years Gathering many years ago Joe Snyder told one of his wonderful stories -- a rambling, hilarious, slightly gory saga about helping somebody's sheep give birth in a barn in the middle of December. At the end he tied it all to Christmas, and reminded us that it's no accident we celebrate Jesus's birth this time of year -- and the miracle of the oil in the temple too, for that matter. These holidays are all about finding some hope in the cold dead of winter, rekindling a glimmer of Light in the darkest time of the year.

These days, with the sun rising at eight and going down at four, we're all a little weary of getting up and coming home in the dark -- and the turning point of the Solstice is still a week away. So it seemed like it was about time to dig a little Light out of the basement, along with our extension cords.

Simon, Mikala, Menna, and Ioan tackled the front porch -- literally, in some cases:




Josie worked on the side porch:


And Andrew and Linda took some blue icicles up to the treehouse:


Then the full moon came riding out from behind the clouds and completed the picture:


We may not be up to the standards of Austin's 37th Street -- sorry, Jackie -- but it's certainly a cheery sight to come home to.