The tree is trimmed. The presents are bought, although I do still have to make a few. The streets are alive with light; a warm carnival embrace. And I am happy to be alive. And I am filled with love and gratitude to all my dear friends for the love they show me. My heart swells to bursting with happiness and life.

There truly is something magical about this season. Some special sparkle in the air that makes us a bit more open, a bit more caring. Perhaps it’s the eggnog, the Southern Comfort, the sugar high from one too many tasty Tollhouses or succulent sandtarts. But I don’t think so. I think it’s something in us, some shared knowledge, desire, need, to feel closer to the ones we love, and even to the ones we don’t even know.

Perhaps we carry it from our earliest of days, when there were no explanations, no sciences to take away our fear of the early fading of the light, the killing frost, as we huddled around fires of warmth and protection; of life.

Perhaps we need to feel that fear from time to time to rekindle the fire of our own humanity. And we should be happy that no matter how smart we become, some tiny reptilian part of our over-wise noggins still retains that wonder as we look up at the darkening sky with its multitude of tiny lights and we feel small in the face of it, and also magnified; we feel a need for kinship, for sharing, for redemption.

Or perhaps it is just the eggnog.

Have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, a Blessed Yule. I hope someone holds you in their arms and shares their warmth, if even for a moment.

Love, Jane