Saturday, December 19, 2009

A Week before Christmas: A Question

The countdown to Christmas Day has intensified. There is only a week left. And although at Holden the countdown is directly and definitely associated with Advent, the ideas that elsewhere are more normally associated with the Chistmas season do find their way into expression here in the wilderness.

So the question is this: what do the children here do to celebrate Christmas when there is no "hot toy" to be scrambled for, no blockbuster Christmas movies to see, no TV to whet the appetite for the acquisition of more "stuff," no Santas everywhere, and no malls....so what do these children, normal children, DO on a Friday night, a Friday night one week before Christmas?

They go throughout the village, house to house, Christmas caroling!!
How is that for an old-fashioned idea?



We did not know that they were coming on this night...the event was not, you see, on the schedule. But from afar, we could hear the singing as they moved through the village, stopping at each house.

They stopped downhill from Agape and began to sing "Silent Night"...all of the verses! It the Lutheran Way to sing all the verses, even when caroling. (I approve.) They added a rousing rendition of "Deck the Halls" before turning downhill (past the angel with the traces of strawberry jam around her mouth) to an equally rousing delivery of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

And oh, I need to mention...there was a lovely accumulation of fresh snow, and they processed through the village bearing candles.

Who needs a mall?