“It’s dark, it’s sad, it’s glam: it’s Christmas!”
This was how a character on the TV show “Will and Grace” reacted to Grace’s window treatment in a Manhattan department store. The episode aired years ago, but for some reason I never forgot that line. Tonight can be very dark and very sad for some people. Yet there’s something like glamour, something that shines, for many people during the holidays, whether or not they celebrate Christmas, and whether or not they’ve had a good year. Is it hope? Hope about the coming year? Or maybe it is a kind of quiet confidence—that as sure as we are that the sun will return and spring will come, we trust that darkness and pain will not have the last word.
I’ve blogged about the poet Rumi before, so I’ll try your patience with one more quotation from him. Somehow this little poem expresses the darkness and the light of this season:
Keep your intelligence white-hot
and your grief glistening,
so your life will stay fresh.
Cry easily like a little child.
During this time of deep darkness, shining lights, fleeting sun, and all-too-present rain, I wish you all the best for a holiday filled with rest, friends, and glad feasts. Happy holidays!
