Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love divine;
Love was born at Christmas;
star and angels gave the sign. (Christina Rossetti, 1885)

This has been a busy couple of days here at Maul-Hall as we have been privileged to share our home with three sets of really great people.

First, our Wake Forest friends Keith and Resi – along with Emmy, came to celebrate Christmas Eve with us, to enjoy a feast together and to give Keith (a pipe-organ aficionado) his “proper church music” fix for the season. Between us we put together a sumptuous meal including one of the best renditions of my gumbo to date.

Then, Christmas Day Rebekah and I hosted a late-morning brunch for our neighbors and – in the evening – a gumbo reprise for the Cindy and Steve Brittain family.

Not just gumbo but English Christmas Crackers and paper hats and great conversation and more.

It all feels very much like this old house has been happy to lean into its new role as a place of hospitality. And of course everything is made more festive via the presence of good people and great friends.

Counting our blessings:

Christmas Day got under way with the usual stockings followed by gifts from under the tree. Rebekah and I have both done a good job of paying attention and taking notes over the past few months, so all of the gifts were pretty much home-runs.

So we cooked a lot, we walked the neighborhood between meals, we talked with all the children and grandchildren and we counted our blessings.

For me, this “counting of the blessings” may be the most important celebratory practice for today.

It is not so much what we “have” as what we have been entrusted with. Each other, our beautiful family, this lifetime of shared experiences, the Good News, friends, our faith community, Tarboro, this home – and so much more.

What a beautiful life.

Love is costly:

Of course, love is costly, and along with blessing there is always the possibility of pain, so the holidays certainly bring loss into clear focus too. But the only way to avoid heartache is to steer clear of love and if we did that then Christmas would be an empty shell of a celebration.

Because Love really did come down at Christmas. And while loss is temporary Love is real and strong and resilient and worth the struggle.

So let’s give it all back to the world, multiplying exponentially over these Twelve Days of Christmas, loving intentionally and eloquently and generously.

Love shall be our token;
love be yours and love be mine;
love to God and others,
love for plea and gift and sign. (Christina Rossetti, 1885)