Holiday Overload!

   'Tis the season for a hectic flurry of activity.  This time between Thanksgiving and New Years is  awash with halls to be decked with boughs of holly, brown paper packages to tie up with string and a "To Do" list that never seems to get done.

   This is an image I made in 2012 in Paris.  I found it at the Cluney Museum above the front door. (You can read the post about my time being a flaneur in Paris here.) The building the museum is in use to be, a thousand years before, a stop over for pilgrims.  There, weary from their travels, the pilgrims could find food and shelter for the night.  Nestled all snug in their beds, it wasn't sugar plums dancing in their heads but visions of their destination...the place of their pilgrimage.

   I too am trying to keep that vision clear in my head as I muddle through the holiday season preparations.  Visions of the Burren and Iona and Glendalough are dancing in my head but I can surely appreciate the expression on this overloaded pilgrim!  It is time for some peace and quiet!

   Although this photograph was made a year and a half ago, its meaning wasn't clear to me until now.  That is the way with contemplative images.  They draw our attention and then, sometimes, they settle in for a long winter's nap.  They will awaken when their time comes, as it did this past week for me.

   It is Christmas Eve and I will be sitting by a cozy fire with Emerson curled up on my lap.  Everything is done and now it is time to just savor the peace of my little snow covered farmhouse.  I will remember Christmases past when it was so hard to sleep this night with the hope that St. Nicholas soon would appear.  But now I simply appreciate the beauty and serenity of this Christmas for the present is all we truly have. 

   My tree is decorated with blown glass ornaments that represent my many trips.  There's a glass spotted ray for St. John, a chili pepper for New Mexico and Santa Claus ornaments in Scottish, Irish and Russian dress!  I can be reminded of all the wonderful adventures I've had as I hang them on the tree. 

   In this photograph you can see my Eiffel Tower ornament which reminds me of my trip to France last year and and my Alice in Wonderland ornament which I use to represent that curiosity which is very much a part of me.  I also like to have ornaments for family and friends who can't be with me at Christmas and I chose something symbolic to represent them as well.

   For all my blog friends this holiday season may I simply say...Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!