Snowflakes & Air Hockey - A Christmas Letter

Updated: Dec 22, 2019

“These modern productions are all very well, but there nothing to equal, from what I hear tell…that moment of mystery….”

Gus - the Theatre Cat

We were visiting a new church on “Snow flake Sunday”. I wasn’t sure what this was all about. I was just trying to get comfortable in the pew and was more than a little miffed that this church had no donuts. “Jesus would have brought donuts”, I grumbled. In my mind a checked off another reason I did not want to attend this new church. “No donuts”

There, to the right of the altar, was a barren Christmas tree. The back of the tree was illuminated by the morning sun coming through the window. I learned that each year the church cuts from paper snowflakes to use as ornaments. They were hanging on a rack ready to adorn the tree. We were all asked to stand and the congregation began to sing basic Christmas carols. Then we were excused row by row to approach the tree and hang a snow flake on the tree.

My donut melancholy began to lift as I watched a small boy ahead of me. He was quivering with excitement as he carefully selected a paper snowflake and then was lifted by his father to place it high on the tree. He had a look of joy on his face that can only come from a child. It was moving and a moment of mystery. The scene was so humble and in that simplicity lay the divine.

Light pierced the veil.

I was reminded by Colleen that it has been awhile since I sent out one of those end of year Christmas letters. You know the ones - the seasonal round up of what has happened in our lives containing vague and unsolicited anecdotes that friends and family “Want” to read. Well sort of anyway.

Stephen is in his third year of his PhD Geology program at Stanford University. He recently published some of his work in a national journal and is traveling all over the world with his research projects. We recently visited him in California after one of our trips and toured a Marine lab where they map the ocean floor. It was exciting to see him involved in such detailed and important work.

Chris and Emily have moved from Atlanta Georgia to Cincinatti Ohio. They have purchased a home, a hundred year old house in a elegant neighborhood on the North side of town. The whole house is a DIY ‘to do’ list and Chris and Emily have embraced the challenge with vigor. Chris has taken a new position working on proposals for a public transport company and Emily is working for the University of Cincinatti Medical School managing research projects and also grant writing.

Colleen has become a world class gardener and amateur landscaper. Over the last two years she has turned our home into an enviable stop on any garden tour.

Colleen, Curtis and Rusty - Master gardeners and landscapers

We are now in our third year of retirement. As we enter Act 3 of our lives we have come to realize that everything prior has just been exposition to this part of the story. We have embraced travel with a singular purpose. We wanted to see the world and, in turn, learn to look at it differently than we have in the past. Since my last Christmas letter we have visited Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan, Italy, Norway, India, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Germany, Denmark, and Mexico. We circumnavigated the world, something neither of us thought we would ever do.

I enjoy a new found freedom. I was warned that I would be bored by retiring early. I would annoy Colleen by being around so much more. (That part may be true).

However I can answer the question with some authority now - Retirement does not suck. I married well. With the past as prologue there are so many new parts of the world still to see. There is so much to appreciate in what we have been given. For the first time in many years, I can see clearly.

It snowed a few days ago. I was surprised by it. I had not been paying attention to the news so I did not know it was coming. For several hours the world was like a snow globe outside as soft flakes blanketed the ground. Flash wandered around with slow wags of his tail. He is slower now and has trouble getting up steps. He seemed to know this might be one of his last snow falls and wanted to take the time to enjoy it. He knows the end of the story.

You could not ask for a better holiday card. The whole scene was straight out of central casting.

Then Chris, Emily and Stephen arrived. And with them, Christmas.

We left to go see a movie. While waiting, the boys played air hockey in the lobby. They laughed and joked as if they were much younger. They did not realize it but despite the lights and noises of the game, the light pierced the veil. And, again, I was treated to a glimpse of the divine.