Thursday, December 24, 2009

What I Choose To Celebrate


It's a quiet morning in Lloyd if you discount the crowing roosters in my yard and in the next one. Owen has been here for an hour and is sleeping on my kitchen counter in his car seat, his soft blanket pulled up around him. His mama dropped him off when it was still dark and I could tell that it tore her heart to kiss him good-bye and go back down that road to work but she did it and I know this is so hard on her and I tell her how brave she is. What a good and strong mother she is. I tell her all the time how grateful I am that she has had this baby, that she allows me to help her take care of him.

Our baby boy. The one we hadn't even dreamed of a year ago. He snoozes on the kitchen and the dogs who were so excited to see him at six thirty have settled back into their various sleeping places and are snoring gently.

It's so strange how everything has changed since Owen has gotten here. Nothing in the world can change your life like a baby. And that's what Christmas is all about I suppose. We humans have made it into something else entirely- something crazy and weird and stressful. But really, it's just about a baby and the hope that each baby carries with it into this world of ours. Baby Jesus, your baby, our baby, the one being born right this second in a hospital room, in a hut, in a bedroom lit with candles.

Each baby delivered to a mother whose hands and arms reach out and she has been changed forever as she sees for the first time the life she has created within her and carried all these months.

That's it. A baby.

We celebrate the baby and the baby of a new year about to be upon us and the changing of the light and the lightening of the days and the lightening of our hearts as a it does.

So stop today. Stop tomorrow if you can. Not to go into a church to see the bloody crucifixion but to simply ponder the miracle of a baby, the miracle of the whirling and spinning and the cycles and the circles of the life of it all, from galaxies to the newest baby.

We were all that newest baby at one time. No matter what has happened since we took that first breath, we arrived with everything that anyone has ever arrived with which is hope in a new life. That is still inside us all. Take a moment to ponder that. To ponder the significance of the hope that you still carry inside of you.
It's there. I promise you and no matter how irreligious and blasphemous I may be, do not doubt that I never for one second disregard the sacredness of the mother and the baby and the hope they represent. Never.


Good morning. Good Christmas Eve morning.
Remember the baby.
Amen.

23 comments:

  1. This was lovely. Thank you. I think a lot of people for so many reasons forget why we do this thing every year — they lose sight of the simplicity and peace.

    ciao,
    rpm

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  2. Red Pen Mama- Thank-you for coming by. I just read your last post and it was perfect.

    Jo- Yes! Women. Indeed.

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  3. That's what I've been writing about too, that He came, but as flesh. The hope of each new and old and we are all sacred in our own way.
    Love to you this Christmas Eve morning.

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  4. I have always thought that working moms must possess some quality that I could never muster. A selflessness, maybe? But it is also bravery.

    Nice Post Ms. Moon. I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday.

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  5. I get up this morning to such a sweet comment from you on my blog, and from others too and the waking is a little easier. Then I peek at your blog and see there is something new. So I give the rabbits their carrots and hay, chop and warm up food for the very old dog, let the little dogs out to potty, make a cup of coffee and come here to sit with you.
    I don't know about babies. All my life I have been afraid to believe in them, which I know makes no sense. And they exist and keep coming anyway, whether I believe or not. They hold all that stuff you speak of, life and hope and love. Things that I've been afraid to allow myself. Mothers astound me, opening yourself up to that kind of love and vulnerability, your whole insides shifting, your entire life changing. Lily is amazing. No wonder you marvel at her, at Owen. And although it must rip her to leave him, think of how warm and calm and safe she must feel knowing he is with you and Mr Moon, in that big happy house. Being loved so completely, cared for so perfectly.

    Thank you for these words this morning, for the "No matter what has happened since we took that first breath..." You're right. We arrived. We are here. That hope is still inside us. You speak to it somehow. That's why you find me here first thing on Christmas Eve morning.

    Merry Christmas Ms Moon. I feel so blessed to have found you.

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  6. Beautiful. I would like to print this post and stick it in my future Christmas cards, with a note saying that I am giving you this wisdom in lieu of material gifts.

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  7. I'm so happy you have found a new and meaningful holiday focus.

    I have always maintained that Christmas is just just a holiday Christians concocted to coincide (sort of) with the ancient Solstice celebration... which is merely a gratitude holiday and a celebrating of the (eventual) coming of spring and beauty and new life (babies) and well surviving the half way point of the damn winter! Back in the days before real heat, that was something to survive winter and find beauty and warmth despite the rough conditions...

    As usual I feel like your beliefs are ancient and earthy and make so much sense. Happy Baby Day!
    xo pf

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  8. I just love you, and how you put things, and you said one time that even though I am a *gulp* Christian that we really do believe in the same things, well, this post proved that to me once and for all. so-thank you for that.

    But I do want to reiterate that I am not one of "those" christians. :)

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  9. Thank you dear Mary, I woke up to your message and that dear "card". You too are important to me in ways I never thought someone would be, your honesty and your friendship are gifts of the spirit to the spirit in a world where selfish people some times one fears have the upper hand.

    Yet, reading your blogs and personal emails I feel the pull of the Goodness Moon and you are its voice. Enjoy every second of Owen as I am sure you will. And have a wonderful time with the family. I will be thinking of a baby in the kitchen and smiling.

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  10. I discovered your blog 2 weeks ago...... I am hooked.... I have found so much pleasure and yes.... some healing in your words....For that I thank you Ms. Moon!...... AND.... Your beautiful grandson .... Oh how wonderful he must be!! Enjoy every single moment with your family....Owen is so lucky to have you as a grandmother....If every child could experience that pure and unconditional love you and Mr. Moon feel for little Owen... the world would be a better place.... My best to you and yours!

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  11. I'm remembering the baby. And the mother. Have a blessed Christmas eve!

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  12. Well said.

    Word Verification: criesto

    Can't make that shit up.

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  13. That is so beautiful, Ms. Moon. The birth of my boys were the holiest days of my life. Thanks for the reminder.

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  14. I feel the same way as Nancy above. Thank you and have a beautiful evening!

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  15. I'm sitting at my computer reading when I still have a thousand and one things to get done. Thank you for reminding me what it's really all about. I will carry it with me tomorrow and remember your words when I look at my babies' faces

    Merry Christmas Mary Moon

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  16. Deb- I do not believe in magical beings unless you are talking about real flesh and blood people who are lit with something from inside them. And yes, I think Jesus was one of those and I think that all of us are born with that potential.
    Love back to you.

    Jill- I am a day late, but good morning to you, too!

    Erin- That's why I tell Lily she is so brave. And we had the BEST holiday ever with our new boy.

    SJ- Amen and good morning to you, too!

    Daddy X- Soon, soon, soon!

    Bethany- And I feel so blessed that you did find me.

    Rachel- You could TRY it.

    Adrienne- And yes, yes, yes to you.

    Ms. Fleur- Well, they are certainly earthy (she says as she has just cleaned out the hen house.) It was so nice having y'all here last night.

    Kori- Oh honey. I know.

    Allegra- You always make me smile, even when you make me cry. I swear you do.

    Maggie McGhee- Thanks! And please continue to come back and tell me whatever you think about whatever I write.

    Elizabeth- We did! I hope you did too.

    Stephanie- Ha!
    Merry Christmas, honey!

    Nancy- And so it should be. Holiest of holy days. Yes.

    Michele R- We know it, don't we? But just wait until the day your grandchild is born.

    Michelle- I hope your Christmas has been so joyful. I really do.
    Much love.

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  17. This is lovely. And you have it exactly right, as usual.

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  18. Ms. Bastard- Well. Sigh. Not always. But thank-you, you precious thing, you.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.