by blukatzen » Fri 22 Dec 2006, 17:28:15
Continuing on..from Steven McNallen..
The Third Day of Yuletide
The ancestors are always with us, but in some sense their presence is
more immediate during Yule. We feel them in the moments of quiet,
walking under the stars or through the wintry woods. They linger near
the fireplace, too, as the crackling flames cast moving shadows across
the dimmed room. And sometimes, when making grandma's favorite Yule
recipe or just remembering what this season was like for us as
children, the past seems to rub up against the present like a friendly
cat that has stealthily, unnoticed, padded into the room. When we set
a place for the ancestors at the Yuletide table, we know that in some
way we cannot fully fathom, they delight in the attention.
We think on those who have gone before us - their gift of life to
us, and our obligation to burnish the family name with love and leave
it shining all the more brightly for our having been here.
This third day of Yuletide, light a candle for Courage and let it
shine bravely across the years.