Busy, Busy Christmas

Hello lovely. You are loved!

What a lovely and spacious day!

I don’t buy into Christmas being so busy.

Nobody says - I’m so busy at Christmas and I love it!

But I see it everywhere. Busy = anxious. Busy = agitated. Busy = worried. Busy = exhausted.

If Christmas isn’t busy, what is it?

It is longer nights. It’s quieter. It’s reflective. It’s coziness with hot drinks, blankets, and layers, whenever possible.

It’s pining for oppression to cease.

This Christmas I’m more aware of oppression than ever before. I’m more aware of the participation in oppression from the impact of institutions I was told to trust - churches, the various levels of government around me, schools, businesses, marriage, and individualism.

My heart has broken again and again this past year, and I know this won’t cease. This has meant my search for and participation in beauty must expand all the more.

“O Holy Night” is one such song that grips my soul and causes me to feel less alone. It is a balm for my heartache. I long to pick the individual strings on my guitar through the frequent chord changes spanning myriad chords and notes.

The song calls me to deeper and true beauty, so I want to do the work for my fingers to deftly move in the right rhythm and time to meld into the voice pure, strong, and evocative.

But like the struggle against oppression, this song makes me work and work for it. The vocal range is not something I can do without practice, nor warm-up. My tone, my control, my strength will have to improve.

And so I practice. I tune my voice, my fingers and the strings to match the tune of my heart, joining in the song of the Universe.

This, to me, is Christmas.

1. What are your favorite things about Christmas?

2. What traditions are important to you around the winter season?

3. What is your role in ending oppression & does this factor into your holiday season?

4. What beauty-making are you called to do in this season?

May you always see the blessing.

-esb

P.S. - Thanks for being here. I’d love to hear how you’re doing & what you’re learning!

P.P.S. - All the art in these newsletters is mine, unless otherwise specified.

P.P.P.S. - Here’s my latest practice of “Oh Holy Night!” from today. I love this song - so moving. I hope my musical mistakes prompt you to get out and make your own music, even if it’s just that beautiful voice of yours!