Babe in the Manger
It was almost Mother's Day holiday, between five to eight years ago, during the Sunday morning children's Bible class I was teaching it happened. We were talking about weather for some reason. One of my grandchildren who was possibly five years old, says to me, "I've been praying for snow, Grandma." I was a bit startled that he was praying for snow at that late a date, almost May. However, children I have discovered, don't always see things from the same perspective as adults. He wanted snow, so there you have it.
I told him at the time, dear heart, this may not be the right time for snow...I can't be quite certain from this distance, but I believe that was the year we had a record set for the coldest temperature in the first week of May, and the record amount of snow ever recorded that late in the year. As well as the highest and lowest temperatures recorded in the same week. Translation? At the beginning of the week we were scooping snow from a large amount of snowfall, and at the end of the week it was close to 100 degrees.
It looked like we were going to have a brown Christmas this year, but in the nick of time we got some measurable snow. It's an odd time of year for a memorial holiday. Some say Christ was not born in December, and some believe he was. Of course there isn't a way to actually prove one way or the other. The scriptures themselves are silent on the time of year, only alluding to the happening.
At the beginning of this country there were the two extremes about celebrating Christmas. On the one side were those who carried on the traditions they brought from their mother country, and on the other side were those who were more interested in what scripture says, who were acquainted with the celebrations from the mother country and repulsed by them.
I confess some of the traditions sound interesting and fun, but...I remember attending a Renaissance fair one year. Much of it was interesting and fun, and then there was a portion which I felt carried a hint of something potentially malicious. I don't remember the exact altercation or happening since it's been enough years ago.
We live in a country that is supposed to blindly protect the rights of all of its citizens in a fair manner, but that hasn't always been the norm. If you have a group of revelers sometimes things get out of hand, things happen that shouldn't, and it ends up being chalked up to no one being (held) responsible. That happened with some of the celebrations from England --Christmas as well as other celebrations.
Yet, further down the centuries immigrants from Germany brought a pious, religious aspect to the celebration of Christmas. It became a time to reflect on what the birth of Christ meant, and became a time to give gifts and dwell on being a better, not just person, but Christian. A time of giving gifts, getting gifts, and wishing others well.
It was exciting to watch the first snow begin to fall this year, and just in time for Christmas. As I look out my kitchen window I can watch the birds at the feeder. The bright red of the Cardinals against the white of the snow is such a vast contrast. Winter it is their time to stand out. As so often is the case, life like the seasons is like a rotating wheel. Winter, spring, summer, autumn, then winter again, year after year and cycle after cycle.
