Dear Bread Fans,
When I was growing up, on Christmas Eve we got to open one present. These presents could not have been from Santa, of course because he hadn’t been down the chimney yet. The year I was four, my sister or I got a kaleidoscope, and as we supposedly went to bed, my father recorded our voices from the hallway. We squatted by the cracked door, holding the toy up to the light, and passing it back and forth. We were unaware that each time we traded the toy the crystals shuffled and the glorious patterns changed.
We were seeing different things and thrilled to share them. The invitation for me to see the beauty she saw, for her to see what delighted me – that’s what mattered.
I can’t get this Christmas story out of my head. I wish that everyone everywhere could get excited over what we see, even if what we see is very different. I know it is simplistic and impossible to hope for such things, but as this holiday rolls around the world, I want the simple and impossible – ceasefire in Palestine, Putin out of Ukraine, and an end to other conflicts that are less in the spotlight. I wish for ease for all people, including good housing, jobs and healthcare.
When I asked my father what he wanted for Christmas, he said either world peace or heal me, the latter a plea to get back his body before he had strokes. Maybe the older we get, the more abstract and hopeful our wants become.
So on this Christmas Eve, whether you are opening a present or singing carols with your family or having nothing to do with this secular Christian holiday whatsoever, I offer us a wish, that strangers & governments, neighbors & friends, put aside our differences and share the excitement of seeing something twinkling and wonderful tonight.
Love, Amy