12/24
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| from the Gate |
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| the grocery line |
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| a Harlem |
It’s a big mistake waiting until Christmas Eve day to do your grocery shopping. I get to the market, walk in, pick up my basket and realize I don’t have my wallet. By the time I go home and turn around and come back, the line to get in goes all the way up the block and around the corner. And inside, the check out line snakes through several departments. After I get my groceries, I go across the street to Double Dutch to sit in one of the tiny plastic houses for a coffee and croissant.
The US Mail seems to have been overwhelmed by people who can’t see others in person mailing everything. One order I paid for “expedited shipping” has yet to arrive a month later. It was too be 2-3 days. Other Christmas items have not arrived.
I meet a friend for a Christmas Eve drink only to find the Gate is closed. We walk the street to another place that has erected a series of small tents with ground level heaters. It’s warm enough without the heaters today.
I have one last thought of getting a Christmas tree and then realize the stand up the street from me is already sold out, packed up and gone., On reflection, I realize that the pop-up urban forest I look forward to every year, where you walk block after block of tree lined streets, air filled with the aromatic smells of pine, balsam and fir. It appears the day after Thanksgiving and is gone by early Christmas morning. There were stands around this year, but not like before. The stand across the street from the church never appeared. And then I understand, all those trees and their sellers came from French Canada, Quebec. The US-Canada border is closed. Our only trees this year were from Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The forest and les Quebecois who came with it, another victim of Covid. I have to think about the impact of that.
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| we light our candles |
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| West Park tree |
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| and Merry Christmas to all.... |
Due to covid, there was no service planned at West Park. But at Bible Study, we knew we had to do something since there had been a service there every year since 1889. So we gathered on the steps. We sang O Come All Ye Faithful. I reminded them that it was also the 110th Christmas of West Park. And my personal 25th. We read the Lucan birth narrative. (2: 1-20)Talk about how the darkest day is past, but still dark days to come. Our need to be light for one another. Thinking about the people of Bethlehem on this night. We light candles. Sing Silent Night. Have a long Christmas prayer and then sing Joy to the World. We go inside the church. Share Marsha’s empanadas and cookies and some wine. Feeling the presence of God in our midst. Covid and all. For this year, this Christmas Eve, it was perfect.
12/25
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| our feast |
No extended family. No large gatherings. Just the “core four” of us at our boys apartment in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Spent the morning cooking..an apple pie, cranberry marshmallow salad, Nate and his mom made cookies, Dan a roast and cheesy potatoes. For us, a feast. For this year, this Christmas, perfect.
We end the night with the new Disney film “Soul” about embracing life in every moment, Well, more complicate than that, but..
The President golfs in Florida, relief package left unsigned. Unemployed benefits for millions due to end. A car bomb goes off in Nashville for unknown reasons. We are all creating our own Christmases.2020.
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