Tag: Merry Christmas

Merry Merry
Christmas Quilts

Merry Merry

Elizabeth E.21 Comments

You don’t have much time right now.

You have too much time right now.

You can’t think of what to do next, the choices being: sew the quilt on the wall together, work on the just-started appliqué project, make some biscotti because the last batch failed because you were paying attention to singing along with the Christmas music and forgot to add the rest of the flour (we are eating them anyway), or just sit and stare out the window in hopes that you can will the rainstorm you see on the horizon to come over here.

You know all too well what to do next, the choices being everything above, plus, some grocery shopping tomorrow at Costco where you are trying in vain to find a fresh, approximately 13 lb. turkey for Christmas because for some reason you feel very British this month, what with The Crown, and thinking about your heritage now that your Dad looks like he is on the precipice of the Wild Night and the New Road back to Mom. Yes, way back I hail from the British Isles and pretty much – or so I’ve been told — they have a turkey for Christmas. Unfortunately I live in America and we have turkey in November and a variety of Other Things for Christmas. I just want turkey, but will have to settle for a whole chicken to roast, come next week.

All your children are coming to spend time with you.

None of your children are coming to spend time with you.

You have no children, nor close by family, but instead will take yourself to see Boys in the Boat for a really feel-good movie to help pass the day. If this is the case, get yourself down to See’s chocolate (or your version of a good candy store) and buy a whole pound of your favorite chocolates and smuggle them into the movie theater because – oh my — we need them at just these moments to savor a bit of joy.

You are tired of sewing and just want to sit and watch The Crown. They have waaaaay more problems than you or I, and besides that, you can work on your appliqué.

But instead you write this bit of well-intentioned blatherskite because in spite of too much to do, or not enough to do, it is still Christmas. 

It still good to make Merry Merry, even if you don’t feel like it, because sometimes — just sometimes — acting “as if” can then become the real. I sincerely and happily wish you all the merry-merry you can find. 

Thanks for being such great readers, and writers, and friends, and friendly quilters. I appreciate you all–

P. S. Jolly Old St. Nicholas is a favorite Christmas quilt.

P. P. S. I have Evergreen, EverLife on the bed down the hall. I love waking up underneath that quilt!

Merry Christmas 2021
Quilts

Merry Christmas 2021

Elizabeth E.17 Comments
info about quilt

There’s a great line that’s been rattling around in my head lately: “You know, I believe we have two lives. The life we learn with and the life we live with after that.” It’s from a scene in The Natural, a movie which — on the surface — is about baseball.

Richard Rohr acknowledges those two parts of our lives: the first part is learning all the rules, figuring out how to pay attention, learn to earn a living, climbing the ladder of success. Of necessity, it’s oriented to self, getting those tasks of our young lives checked off the lists. I could make this into a quilt analogy, but not today.

But Rohr argues that it’s necessary to learn the rules — not in order to break them — but to move on from them and into the better part of life: opening your heart, taking care of others, trying to meet the needs of those around you, finding out what’s truly important. I’ve been thinking about this not only because of the pandemic for the last 22 months, and how all the rules were suddenly up-ended, but also because of the joy and peace I feel during the Christmas season.

These past months we have had more new rules to learn: social distancing, masks, carrying hand sanitizer wherever we go. We wear our masks to care for each other; we keep our distance to care for ourselves. We work hard to keep sympathies for those too frightened or too confident to get vaccinated. We weary ourselves with the juggling.

The second part of life then is about seeing bigger, from an expanded viewpoint, moving away from self and not seeing things are we are, but as the world is, and navigating that. He reminds us that “life is characterized much more by exception and disorder than by total or perfect order. Life is both loss and renewal, death and resurrection, chaos and healing at the same time; life seems to be a collision of opposites.” The challenge, then, is to make peace with all our opposites and our chaos, and focus in on renewal and healing. (And, of course, quilting.)

At Christmas time, it feels a bit easier, with carols playing and with children and the Christ child at the center. In this pocket of time, we can step all the way back from the rigid and chaotic and disordered life, light our candles and carol our way to peace.

Merry Christmas to you all!