lxforever

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men all.”

—Luke 2:14, Linus

“Dear Santa Claus, / But how is your mom?”

—Letter to Santa 2017

It’s all going too fast. Just one year, just two, three four five. Tiny still-new born and marble-running sister, a dollhouse and a smile, mops and infant and descending an attic staircase into the perfect cinnamon-roll life. Didn’t Christmas just start? How is it over? Shimmer and Shine, a big yellow school bus, red corduroy Christmas dresses and hairbrushes in the mirror. Two little girls, steeped in everything we do.

We’re very lucky, and we’ve had a good year. This year has not been good, however, unless we’ll call the finally-getting-it-all-out-there (still more to go) part of it good, I guess. When I was Googling for this quote (what, you think I have a Bible sitting here?!), an article from 2012 Huffington Post came up, asking “Whatever happened to peace on earth, goodwill?” Whatever happened, indeed. I don’t love watching people having to fight for basic acknowledgement, or bickering about Human Rights 101 as people actually suffer, or having to have it pointed out yet again, every single time, that women’s rights are human rights. I loathe it all, and it doesn’t make sense in the slightest. It’s humiliating and horrifying to watch humans hurt their fellow humans this way.

And I don’t love worrying about these girls and their own futures being compromised by all of this, even as we’re lucky and wealthy and safe. It’s a good (comparatively) time in history, we’re in a good place, and still, it’s not given.

But to see this article come up from five years ago, wondering the same thing, to realize this isn’t necessarily new; to know that in history there were shepherds and wise men needing to soothed by the words of an angel about a baby—though it shouldn’t, that this has always been there, that we’ve always held our anxieties, gives me pause. Steps forward followed by steps back, waiting in joyful, jittery hope, answers that come and go and still won’t be revealed. We’re all human, we’re all here, and we will find our way even in this mess.

That in and of itself is reason for hope. Happy Christmas!

ETA: now THIS is the 20th year of Xmas eve updates. Yer damn right! /fin