I start my day with a review of the world news. Mostly that is dismal. Then I think of something that will make me happy: count the horses in the field, make coffee for my partner of more than a half century, feed the dogs.
And it goes on.
Finding a Christmas tree was the greatest adventure. You know how they have to be perfect and your family has to be happy with it. Well, this year I bought two Fir trees home really believing there was a consensus out there in the snow and hills that one would be perfect (enough).
The ultimate judge in our family is the Grand Matriarch! Not good enough she says. Not to be discouraged, out we go again for the perfect tree. Would you believe that such a tree had two doglegs in the stem! And to set it up in the living room we had to move much furniture.
Heck, anything for Christmas holiday bliss! A family member up the road saw the truck with the original two going home, then going out empty a while later.
He phoned later in the day just to say, chuckling, that I must have made a mistake: “ perfect” is not always perfect in the Grand Matriarch’s view. Now who is to challenge such a venerable person with perfect (albeit incomprehensible) taste and judgment in trees.
It turns out that his person as a child would have her father drive all over Vancouver searching for a tree!
Who is to argue with that kind of Christmas tradition? Not I.
Instead, I have to agree we had found the perfect one.
It is a family tradition, as it is for many Canadians, that we skate and play hockey on the lakes or ponds. This year is no different.
In years gone by, one would have found our family getting several teams of horses ready for a community sleigh ride—our annual open house tradition for 34 years. It when the next generation wanted more time for their own beginning traditions. So we gave the sleigh ride a pass. I do dream of doing it again.
Christmas day began for me feeding cattle and horses. That was peace personified. That day, both in the morning and the evening the Cariboo sky was lovely yellow with a hint of orange. I love those skies since they mask unsettling news of elsewhere.
Peace on Earth to all.