Message
A year that went awry from the beginning and got progressively worse with relentless ferocity had some moments of respite: activity on the Rafael Sabatini front, and private satisfactions at Christmas, namely Midnight Mass, the Christmas Crib, and the new-made ornaments hung in the living-room window.
Midnight Mass was in the lovely chapel of St. Joseph's Boys' High School where, in spite of ragged singing by the choir, and concessions made to an increasing trivialisation of all-important things which is characteristic of modern life (PowerPoint presentation to keep hoi polloi amused during the Vigil before Mass, decorations more suited to a home than to a chapel), it was possible to participate fully in the celebration of a holy Mass, to hear exhortations that went home, and - most blissful of all - to join in singing loved Christmas carols after twenty years!
The current year is unlikely to be different from the last in one key respect, but it will be possible at least to refresh the spirit with the memory of a Crib which turned out well in spite of all the imperfections of construction such as would never have passed muster in yesteryears. One grows old, clumsy, tired, and must accept the consequent deficiencies in one's work. But the mind urges endeavour where the body resists, and here is the result - first a panorama, then details, and finally another panorama:

(22 of the first 23 photographs are by Berenice da Gama-Rose)
















"He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit" ~ (the Apostles' Creed)





















"there was no room for them at
the inn" ~ (Lk. 2:7)














"The keeper of the gate . . . said, respectfully, "Rabbi, . . . if you care to go with me, I will show you  that there is not a lodging-place left in the house; neither in the chambers, nor in the lewens, nor in the court - not even on the roof."

















































"Then he took the leading-strap from Joseph,and said to Mary, "Peace to you, O daughter of David!"
Then to the others, "Peace to you all!" Then to Joseph, "Rabbi, follow me."
"The cave to which we are going," he said to her, "must have been a resort of your ancestor David." ~ from Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace









"She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger" ~ (Lk. 2:7)













"About midnight some one on the roof cried out, "What is that light in the sky? Awake, brethren, awake and see!" ~ Ben-Hur














"there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God" ~ (Lk. 2:13)












"And they came with haste, and they found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger." ~ (Lk. 2:16)













"and falling to their knees they did him homage" ~ (Matt. 2:11)
"ever 'gainst the season comes/ Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated/ This bird of dawning singeth all night long"
~ Hamlet (I:1)









"So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, left that night for Egypt" ~ (Matt. 2:14)


















(see the Christmas legend of the spider below)


















Christmas: (photograph by Sonali Bhatia)

And the Logos who gives the mind word and thought entwined to bring forth artefacts that are symbolic in a kind of poetry:

Refreshing, too, will be the memory of celebrating the Creator in the spirit of the jongleur of Notre-Dame, by the sub-creation of ornaments to hang up, six of them new this Christmas:




His Light




















His bounty (new)






















Music (new)

















Mirth (new)













Christ our Light (new)



















Mary, the new Ark who bore Christ
(new)














the Paradise Tree (new), reminder of Paradise lost and Paradise to be regained, the unalterable promise of which was made at the Nativity.











This is the story of the spider at Christmas, which a mother used to tell her small daughter while they decorated the Christmas Tree.
There was an old lady who lived all alone but for a cat and a dog. On Christmas Eve she would lock them out until she had cleaned the parlour from rafters to floor, and set up the Christmas Tree with the Crib arranged below it.

When all was ready, she let in her pets and they went about inspecting everything, wagging a tail or purring as was appropriate to each. Then all three went off to early supper and bed, for the next morning it would be Christmas Day.

Once it happened that a single little spider escaped the old lady's broom and hid in the rafters. From there she could see very little, but she knew that something very fine had been arranged below for cat, dog and old lady all seemed so pleased. So after they had all left she climbed down and began to inspect the Tree from top to bottom, for she was a tiny thing and could not take it all in at a glance.
When she reached the manger below she looked up and saw a dreadful thing. The beautiful Christmas Tree hung with shiny ornaments was covered now in cobwebs and looked so very shabby. The little spider began to cry.
But it was midnight now and the Baby in the manger wasn't going to let the spider be unhappy on his Birthday. He smiled, and as he smiled a bright light spread out and up - up - up to the top of the Tree. And lo, the filaments of spider webbing had turned to finest threads of silver and gold! The Christmas Tree was far more beautiful now than it had ever been before.




















And that is why we wreathe our Christmas trees with tinsel threads.....

Ruth Heredia is the originator and holds the copyright to all material on this blog unless credited to some source. Please do not use it or pass it off as your own work. That is theft. If you wish to link it, quote it, or reprint in whole or in part, please be courteous enough to seek my permission.