Christmas 1995
I thrive on sunshine. On this cloudless December day, the sun low in the sky gilding and sharpening images, I am measuring the year's passage with other sunlit memories. In the midst of the heavy rains of November, one glorious purple and blue sunny Sunday standing on a hillside in Saanich overlooking the inlet, black and silver, almost too bright for the eyes. West-coast mist mingling with sun in September, "season of mists and mellow fruitfulness"; a far more biting fog enveloping all but the highest heights of the bridge over the Firth of Forth in early summer; warm, soft, sun-drenched fells and rich June-green meadows in the Lake District. And the Mediterranean sun - words fail, better left in the brushes of the painters in oil - heat lingering into the evening, long ofter it has disappeared. Ah, the remembrance warms the very bones...
Get to the point! Highlight of 1995. In June we shot our non-existent bolt and went to Sarah's Cambridge graduation via:
All of this in 3 weeks and quite cheaply, thanks to British Airways travel coupons. Time did not permit us to follow the S-H band to St. Petersburg. After Graduation Sarah took her choir on tour through Europe, and arrived in Amsterdam on the same day as Simon's crew, but illness (too much wodka?) prevented their hoped for rendez-vous.
Once home, our excitement decreased in direct proportion to our bank account, but inversely with respect to our household population. We had begun the year as empty nesters, until Jeremy returned at Easter from a business venture in Edmonton. From July until last week the household numbered between 6 and 8, not counting visitors. Now we have achieved equilibrium, with 4 more-or-less regular inhabitants, and occasional drop-ins. Mary, a composition student, friend of Simon, is lodging with us, which means occasionally this fall the women have outnumbered the men!
This will be our first Christmas without all the MacDonalds present. Sarah was appointed Music Director of St George's Church Halifax December 1, and so she, with Marcus, begins her own independent life. Imagine - a musician with a job!
The sweet and vivid memories of sun and summer lighten some of the heaviness the year has held for us. There is no need to recount details; they are variations on a theme we have spoken of before. Whether personal or societal, they have to do with brokenness, incompletelness, and the unbearably long road to reconciliation. Sadness is a more prevalend theme in the Christmas letters we have received so far this year. We are all getting older. Sad events happen more frequently; but perhaps also we are increasingly aware how easy it is to be more self-centred, less caring of others, when times are tough. For me the challenge is yo retain a healthy perspective. Writing Christmas letters in this season helps. It is Advent, season of procession - in hope, in expectancy - from darkness to Light.
With love and best wishes for Peace and Joy to you all this Christmas and in the New Year
Diana