Some Christmas Cheer

Aria has really enjoyed her first Christmas. There's no way that she's understood what's going on around her, but she got her first taste of wrapping paper. And her second. And third... :-)

We've been really grateful to have family support (and patience) surrounding her for the past week or so -- sleeping of course has been rocky, and scheduling has been off. But despite that, she's been pretty easy to get along with. And I wanted a few moments with her by the family tree. She co-operated, but it was a little revealing to my family to see what goes into making these photos. It's more than just grabbing a camera and pushing a button. For one thing, I took I probably 40-50 to get these that I really like (I should have counted...). And I'm lying with my head 3" from the floor to try to get the angle I wanted -- that gets exhausting after not-very-long.

(The one I really liked from the session, that I thought was going to be my favourite was out of focus when I brought it into the computer. Sigh.)



I hope you had a Merry Christmas wherever you are, and whoever you're with. I'm sure we'll get some more pics for New Years. :-)

How Mary Must Have Felt

You know - this Christmas there's a strong connection for me with Mary and her journey (go figure). I think we paint too pretty of a picture of her (as per usual with biblical characters - let's be honest). She was (to quote my Grade 8 drama production) "fat and bloated, and you expect me to walk where???" She was just a normal person, fit into the context of her society. Telling people that she was pregnant before she was married wasn't going to get better by saying "but no, it's GOD who got me pregnant"...SURE it was Mary - and God also got the other unwed mother pregnant in town....SURE.... She had to deal with stares, threats to her life (adultery was worth stoning, and being engaged was as good as being married), the stigma attached - as well as having to go through nine months of pregnancy. We forget about the TIME involved between the angel's visit and the birth - 9 months is a LONG time, and yet...scarily short...

So - poor Mary - and then, to top it off, at the end of a VERY long journey, she ends up giving birth - in a stable! And if there was no room for them in the inn, imagine how many extra animals must have been housed in the stable - all those people got to that inn somehow... Then there's the humour of our interpretation of the baby being born. It was a silent night, it was holy, there was only peace and quiet and into that peace and quiet and holiness, a baby magically appeared in a manger. Little Lord Jesus, no crying he made, and evidently, Mary's birth was painless and miraculously peaceful too (in our Sunday School drama Jesus appeared from behind a poinsettia - I said to a friend - I hope it's that easy for me when I give birth...Oh, there's my baby, behind a poinsettia). We make this out to be a beautiful serene scene, with Mary able to give birth without even knocking her halo off kilter.

Somehow, going through what I am right now, and looking forward to what I'm looking forward to, I think it was a little louder, dirtier, messy, with Mary yelling in pain, and the animals bleating a response at every contraction. Perhaps that tickled Joesph's funny bone and he'd laugh, which would only make Mary more frazzled. By making it into a holy event ONLY - we lose some of the humanity that made Christ's birth so amazing. Our Saviour, the Son of GOD, became a little baby - born the same way all of us are - he was helpless, and had to cry to communicate what he needed, just like all little babies. The awesomeness of Mary & Joseph's responsibility, to provide for the son of God when he was incapable of taking care of himself, that gets lost in what we look at in the story of Christ. His humanity is part of what makes our faith so amazing, and God's love for us so incredible.

Jesus came to rule over the earth, to change the world, to give us hope of eternity with our father in heaven - and he did it in a slobber covered manger, with the normal pains of childbirth promised to all women in Genesis, visited by the dregs of society (shepherds), to spend 30+ years growing up in a society that KNEW he was illegitimate. All this, so he could die an excruciating death. For me and you, and my little unborn baby. That inspires more awe in me than a silent, peaceful birth with a baby who freakishly never cries.

Merry Christmas - I hope it will be merry for some REAL reasons, and not only imagined ones.