Sometimes, the world needs that "silent night"—the lull before the anticipated celebration. Perhaps, with a year like this one has been, though we need a celebration, this one will be different than all those we've enjoyed in the past. It certainly has provided time for reflection.
In such times, I often return to those images from art's history which convey a sense of peace or contentment, and for Christmas, this image by Philadelphia chromolithographer Joseph Hoover is one I come back to, year after year. Though we no longer travel by horse-drawn sleigh—and we certainly won't be entertaining at large family gatherings—just looking at this scene evokes that settled feeling of satisfaction often evoked by the culmination of the Christmas season.
No matter how hectic, or disappointing, or devastating this year has been for you, I wish you a capstone holiday weekend which transforms it all into that small haven of peace we hope for in Christmas.
Above: "Christmas Eve" lithograph by J. Hoover, undated; courtesy United States Library of Congress via Wikipedia; in the public domain.
Merry Christmas.
ReplyDeleteWith all that this crazy year has brought us, Miss Merry, I hope your Christmas is a haven of peace for you and your family!
Delete65 years ago "we" would sing..... over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go!!! The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh thru the Through (the) white and drifted snow!
ReplyDeleteOver the river and through the woods,
Oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes and bites the nose,
As over the ground we go.
and then we would get to the cemetery on the lake and have to crane our necks to see if the Christmas wreath was still on the family mausoleum. No longer travel that road as Nonna has moved on......
I'm finding Christmas has a way of bringing us some melancholy memories as the years go by...I think a lot of us have no longer "traveled that road," as you put it. These, however, are the memories we preserve by passing them on.
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