The Christmas Book Collection
In yesterday's post I mentioned we were expecting a storm front to roll in. Well, if it did, I missed it! Actually, it did roll in but it rolled right past us here and today the skies were mostly a brilliant blue and the sun shone, as usual! Thunderclouds were piled white and high, like huge mounds of whipped cream, to the north and east of us, gathered along the mountain ranges there, most of which are about a 90-minute drive away. No doubt there is rain falling somewhere there and perhaps even snow! But here on the coast it is as dry as ever.
So....I never did get my hot chocolate yesterday afternoon, nor did I begin to decorate for Christmas. I did, however, as darkness fell and temperatures dropped, succumb to the siren call of my Christmas books! There is now a selection of two or three on the coffee table, awaiting my attention.
Alice Taylor's An Irish Country Christmas for example....it must be 6 or 8 years (I'm too lazy to check my book lists to find the exact date) since I read it and, to be honest, I cannot remember much about it except that I enjoyed it immensely. She treats us to "the joyful glow of a child's Yuletide celebration" drawn on memories of her childhood Christmases in a small Irish village. So reading it this week will be a special treat....I can't wait! Here's a little teaser....The magic of Christmas was out in the moonlight haggard with the cattle and down the fields with the sheep but most of all it was here in the holly-filled kitchen with the little battered crib under the tree and the tall candle lighting in the window. The candle was the light of Christmas and the key that opened the door into the holy night.
And this book is the one I began reading just this morning. Joni Earekson Tada's A Christmas Longing, published in 1990 and featuring some of her beautiful paintings, is a new book for me; I found it at Acres of Books before that fabulous used book store disappeared from the scene a couple of years ago. Acres had an entire wall of Christmas books and I'd go there once or twice a year to see what I could find. A Christmas Longing has been sitting with its fellows on the Christmas shelf in my home, unread, since then. I never quite got around to opening its pages until today. I'm so glad I did! She begins the first chapter by speaking of her seven-year-old self and the inexpressible longing she felt for something more, beyond the gifts and the loving family gatherings, at Christmas time.Why did I feel this mysterious pull to get away, go beyond, even "step into the other side" of Christmas? Bright red ribbons, scented pine branches, spices and candles, the joy and laughter—these things were warm and precious, but they also were inklings, hints and whispers of an even greater celebration. A celebration to come... It's a Christmas longing.
Best of all, as we begin Advent tomorrow, is a book I found at the One Dollar Bookstore, Watch for the Light, Readings for Advent and Christmas, including selections from the likes of C.S. Lewis, Thomas Merton, Philip Yancey, Madeleine L'Engle, Henri Nouwen, Kathleen Norris, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and many others. Clicking HERE will take you to a link at Ama*zon and you can read a selection yourself.
Not much reading got done today, however, despite this delightful richness of words to feast upon, as I spent the afternoon taking down all the autumn decor and exchanging it for a bit of red and green and gold in celebration of Advent and Christmas. Nothing big or fancy this year. The simple, rustic creche adorns its usual place of honor on the mantel....
And we all await Advent, the time of waiting for Christmas Eve and Day. And there is a bigger waiting too....Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it so well:
Christ is still knocking. It is not yet Christmas. But it is also not the great final Advent, the final coming of Christ. Through all the Advents of our life that we celebrate goes the longing for the final Advent, where it says: "Behold, I make all things new" (Rev. 21:5). Advent is a time of waiting. Our whole life, however, is Advent—that is, a time of waiting for the ultimate, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, when all people are brothers and sisters and one rejoices in the words of the angels: "On earth peace to those on whom God's favor rests." Learn to wait, because he has promised to come. "I stand at the door..." We however call to him: "Yes, come soon, Lord Jesus!" Amen






