Merry Christmas! Day 6! The snowflakes yesterday were so big that they showed up in this picture. We have had a lot of snowing and blowing. (Clicking on picture enlarges it.)
I decided today not to go out. I spent the day reviewing the past year, reading my journal and writing some thoughts about 2012. I did some reading and praying and listening to music, all in a quiet Christmas atmosphere in my living room, colored lights and manger scene.
I finished a lovely book I've been reading about Dorothy Day, my favorite American of the 20th century. It's a coffee table size book by an artist Michael O'Neill McGrath with a lot of his paintings and references to St. Francis de Sales. I found it a brief, insightful look at Dorothy Day and an inviting introduction to St. Francis.
One of the pieces of Christmas music that I listened to was Berlioz' "L'Enfant du Christ." It ends with a Muslim family taking in the Jewish family, Joseph, Mary, and the Child Jesus, when they arrive exhausted in Egypt. The host is also a carpenter and tells the listener that Joseph worked with him for ten years before returning to Nazareth.
As I looked back at the year the best memories revolve around the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of my ordination. The pilgrimage I made to Canterbury Cathedral was also deeply satisfying. These and other happy memories helped to put some of the bad ones in perspective.
Adding to the mellow feeling of the day was a phone call from an old friend and another from one of my nephews.
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