Green Christmas/White Christmas

I woke up early Sunday morning at the cottage, and tended the fire in the dark. The dusk turned the black into blue, and then colour came into it. The sun rose, a glorious pink and orange, until day broke fully and completely. I stood up and looked outside. The sky was blue, the waves were rolling in, and there was not a snowflake in sight. So I slipped on my shoes, went down to the dock, and had a snooze in the hammock, in the warm glow of the sun, listening to the waves lap the dock.

Later that day, we all went out to get the tree. We had the easiest time of it ever - no snow to fight through, the roads were better than we'd ever had them.

"It is a shame we have so much running around to do on a day like this," I told my wife.

We hustled back into town for my daughter's birthday, and then I headed over to the church for rehearsal (our group was playing the 8 PM Mass.) On the way there, I had a deep spiritual conversation with my cab driver, who was a Sikh.

"Prayer is easier at night," He said. "Fewer distractions."

Mass was beautiful as always, and we did a rousing version of "Go Tell it on the Mountain." I had the opportunity to wish several people a Merry Christmas, and then we jetted back to the cottage in a far easier fashion than last year. (Part 1 | Part II | Part III )

We woke up to a green Christmas, and the baby's first. I can't tell you how much fun it is to witness a baby's first Christmas (an experience I probably share with Lane.) Tearing into wrapping paper once they get the hang of it... then leaving the toy unplayed with as they continue to play with the wrapping paper. Such a happy and excited baby - she certainly made the day for us. Eventually, though, she did figure out the toy piano we gave her, and was playing it with relish by the end of the day.

That evening at dinner - which as usual was a massive effort by my sister in law - it began to snow. As the snow twinkled in the night sky outside, my brothers in law, my nephew, and I sat down at the table after dinner and had a long discussion about the old adage that we allegedly only use ten percent of our brains. My nephew is a herpetologist, and he and I argued that nature is too economical to let a creature walk about who is using so little of its own abilities.

My brother in law said, "I fall in the middle... only ten percent seems like a waste... but what if there's ten percent left, and some people can tap into that?"

Later I took the dogs outside to throw the ball around. The ground was covered with fluffy white snow. A green Christmas is very convenient, for driving, travel, etc. But I was very happy, as I looked around at the winter wonderland, than a White Christmas had come after all.