So, it’s apparently going to be one of those winters. As of now, snow has fallen more than a foot deep in places in Virginia where I grew up and was lucky to see four inches the whole season. (And if any snow fell and stuck to the ground, it was completely gone two days later.)
In Rochester, New York, air is cold and piercingly dry, snow is fine like caster sugar, and I don’t need a Van de Graaff generator to have my head look like a dandelion puff. When the sun is out, it’s gloriously bright because leafless deciduous trees are not filtering the light, but after sunset . . . brrr.
This is definitely the time of year to contemplate the religious and cultural traditions that focus on themes of light, warmth, life, love, and growth. I love listening to the Christmas carol derived from Christina Rosetti’s poem In the Bleak Midwinter.
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan;
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.
Our God, heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain,
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty —
Jesus Christ.
Enough for Him, whom Cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
And a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom Angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.
Angels and Archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air;
But only His Mother
In her maiden bliss
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.
What can I give Him,
Poor as I am? —
If I were a Shepherd
I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man
I would do my part, —
Yet what I can I give Him, —
Give my heart.
This year, my advent calendar of a sort, my reminder of the Incarnation and the harsh environment in which it occurred, is my daily care and feeding of Mr. Boo-boo, a semi-feral cat who is now living on my porch. He is the father, I am pretty sure, of Mr. Jo, the three-week-old kitten I found under my porch in July of 2017. Christmas in July? Maybe.
Anyway, Mr. Boo-boo is an incredibly sweet, gentle, friendly suck-up cat. Yet also alert and bouncy when the occasion calls for it.
I have no room for him in my house, but I desperately want him to find a home. I am even willing to pay for shots and neutering, as long as some true cat person is willing to give him a home to be the overlord of . . .