Christmas Archives - The Panorama of a Pastor's Wife

24 Dec 2022

Starry Skies, but Hold the Ugly Sweaters

It’s that time of year when knowing your priorities is extra-important. Will you dash around trying to accomplish everything, meeting expectations you’ve set for yourself about how much you can do and also how well you’ll pull it off? Will you go along with cultural norms just because they’re out there? Or, will you be content with not focusing on either the quantity or the quality of stuff (whatever you perform, whatever you wrap up, etc.) and instead try to … Read More

13 Dec 2021

Tchaikovsky, Updated

While I’m tempted to embark upon a continuation of my last topic – about the cleansing of our basement as an Advent activity (because there have been exciting new developments there) – I will refrain and move on to something new. What I’ll serve up today, firmly in the realm of contrasts, has to do with how, with the passage of time, a certain kind of thing can become an almost completely different kind of thing. OK, that’s just bland. … Read More

24 Dec 2020

C’mon, Lighten Up

My younger son, wise beyond his years, saw me striving to get a bunch of cards ready for the mail the other day. They weren’t the batch of New Year’s cards that we generally send — by late January. No, I was just scurrying to send out a handful of messages to about 1/100th of the people I’ve been missing, feeling the press of the clock, well aware of the deadline for getting them on their way on that particular … Read More

16 Dec 2018

A Day To Be Gaudy, and Writers Going Out at Night

Mid-December and Rose Sunday (had help with that) Greetings to All! If there were ever a time for contrasts — the original focus of this blog— now would be a strong contender. We’re encouraged to feel all peaceful and relaxed, not to mention sparkly, but our to-do lists grow longer by the day as we strive to fulfill all requests and invent some that aren’t even there. We become more keenly aware of what and where real “need” is and … Read More

27 Nov 2016

‘Tis the Conflict of Interest Season

President-elect Trump is certain that “the president can’t have conflict of interest.” Oh really? Not much mentioned during the campaign, this controversy now has reached a boiling point. Never before has someone presided over a world-wide multi-million dollar business at the same time as presiding over a country. It sounds like some kind of magic show: now you see it, now you don’t. Maybe he could be called Hoodwinker-in-Chief. Don’t worry—in this post-Thanksgiving blog, politics will be only a “side.” … Read More

20 Dec 2015

Keeping the Sleigh Aloft

It’s the Christmas countdown, and we’re trying, really trying, to focus on the most soul-filling qualities of the season. We need to stay on it, too, because the outer world keeps bombarding us with stuff that is in a whole other category. The more I hear, the more I want to head straight to my piano and play “What Child Is This?” as quietly as possible. Take the Republican debate the other night, for example. Now that was a really … Read More

15 Dec 2014

The Right Choice is Yours to Make

Since it was “beginning to look a lot like Christmas” already about a month ago–or was it October– it’s not so easy to feel the full force of the crescendo now, especially when we have compelling reasons to pay attention to other, dare I say bigger issues, such as protests over police killings around the nation and the racial divide that stubbornly persists in this country. I’m going to leave that important topic to others, however, and present to you … Read More

8 Dec 2014

Equal Parts Substance and Space

Which is more important— things that take up space, or the spaces in between? Does our eye prefer patches of bright color, or the surrounding blankness that allows us to see the color? When we arrive at a long-anticipated event, are we so done with waiting, or do we sometimes wish to be back in that magical quiet land? It must be Advent again, because these are the questions I have swirling around, while I’m actively not shopping. Looking back at my blogs … Read More

31 Dec 2013

I Believe, Therefore I Do

On the heels of Christmas with its mix of sacredness and enchantment, I’m setting out to write something here about the act of believing in something and how closely it is, or perhaps is not, aligned with leading a good life. Of course just about any fool would say that the quality of anything flowing from a particular source must depend primarily on the legitimacy of the source – or set of beliefs – itself. I would maintain, however, that … Read More

15 Dec 2013

Getting ready for Something, or perhaps for Nothing

Right now — with many of us running around trying to decide which particular thing would actually make a difference in someone’s life as opposed to just adding to a mountain of stuff really beside the point — seems like a good time to consider how far apart, or close together, nothing and something are. What we find here could come in handy. Opposites, you say? Not so fast. Sure, who could argue with Julie Andrews (or, just the … Read More