Becoming Chris Kamalski

"There's a Writer outside ourselves, plotting a better story for us" ~Don Miller

Tag: Christmas Eve

December 24, 2011

Eves Are Better (For Now).

Maxie's First Tree Day (The most important of Kamalski/Gerdts/Lagier holidays!).

Merry Christmas Eve!

I found myself reflecting on the nature of ‘eves’ a year ago, and thought this summed up my feelings as the culmination of the Advent & Christmas season is upon us. Enjoy:

I awake this cold Christmas Eve with a building sense of anticipation and hope (Is joy creeping in?), still chewing on what I posted yesterday:

Anticipation is a joy, and at Christmas the Eve is often better than the indulgence of the Day. Our preparation is for a guest.

A thought emerging out of the fog of my tired mind (It is the end of the year, after all) is this:Does growing maturity (which I would directly correlate with a parallel sense of willingness to embrace change) move one towards the process of enjoying anticipation, as opposed to consuming the end result? As I look back on significant moments in my life, I realize that even my memories are strewn with moments leading up to the ‘Big Events,’ as opposed to the actual experience itself. Rather, it is the process which is burned into my recollections, as opposed to the destination. This is simple when you think about it: My family honors Tree Day (the annual ritual of cutting down a fresh Douglas Fir) more than Christmas, the ingredients of Christmas Dinner more than the actual meal itself, the obscene pile of presents overflowing underneath the tree more than the actual gifts contained within.

The parallel journey of our own lives is striking to the point of chills, if you let yourself actually connect the dots. God seems to be more concerned about the preparation, than the Day itself. Could He be more interested in what happens along the way, as opposed to where we actually end up (Knowing in fact, that as we are present in opening up to Him and ourselves along the way, where we end up will be exactly right anyways!)?

And so, I offer a simple thought this Christmas Eve: Maybe this day is more significant as we mature.  Maybe ‘the Eves’ in our lives are a deep gift to be embraced whole-heartedly, in whatever Eve or darkness or light you are found within.

Eves are better (For Now).

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December 24, 2010

Red Tint (Project 365, Day 23).

Aperture: f/5.6     Focal Length: 55 mm     ISO: 400     Shutter Speed: 1/60 second

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December 24, 2009

Eves Are Better (For Now).

I awake this cold Christmas Eve with a building sense of anticipation and hope (Is joy creeping in?), still chewing on what I posted yesterday:

Anticipation is a joy, and at Christmas the Eve is often better than the indulgence of the Day. Our preparation is for a guest.

A thought emerging out of the fog of my tired mind (It is the end of the year, after all) is this: Does growing maturity (which I would directly correlate with a parallel sense of willingness to embrace change) move one towards the process of enjoying anticipation, as opposed to consuming the end result? As I look back on significant moments in my life, I realize that even my memories are strewn with moments leading up to the ‘Big Events,’ as opposed to the actual experience itself. Rather, it is the process which is burned into my recollections, as opposed to the destination. This is simple when you think about it: My family honors Tree Day (the annual ritual of cutting down a fresh Douglas Fir) more than Christmas, the ingredients of Christmas Dinner more than the actual meal itself, the obscene pile of presents overflowing underneath the tree more than the actual gifts contained within.

The parallel journey of our own lives is striking to the point of chills, if you let yourself actually connect the dots. God seems to be more concerned about the preparation, than the Day itself. Could He be more interested in what happens along the way, as opposed to where we actually end up (Knowing in fact, that as we are present in opening up to Him and ourselves along the way, where we end up will be exactly right anyways!)?

And so, I offer a simple thought this Christmas Eve: Maybe this day is more significant as we mature.  Maybe ‘the Eves’ in our lives are a deep gift to be embraced whole-heartedly, in whatever Eve or darkness or light you are found within.

Eves are better (For Now).

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December 23, 2009

Anticipation Is A (Kind Of) Joy.

This last week of Advent is a time of waiting – and that has its own pleasures: the sound of Daddy’s car on the drive, the key turning in the front door. Anticipation is a joy, and at Christmas the Eve is often better than the indulgence of the Day. Our preparation is for a guest. Life and human history is not just one thing after another. God broke in on human history two thousand years ago and nothing is the same since. The world is young though it may feel old. Christmas is a birthday. We survive on the bright spots, when things are special: light at the end of the tunnel. Advent is the tunnel, and it used to have its share of fasting and repentance, sharpening the contrast between anticipation and the Event.

In what sense does God arrive at Christmas? In Innsbruck they re-enact the arrival, putting a live baby and mother on a sleigh drawn through the lighted town. That is lovely, but imaginary. The real arrival is partly in our hearts, partly in our Mass. True, that happens more than once a year. But on this feast, as on a birthday, we celebrate that Bethlehem event which showed (as birthday presents show) that we are the children God wanted, that we matter to him.

(Via sacredspace.ie)

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