Stars and Angels

For most people in this world, the stroke of Midnight on Christmas morning is what we've been waiting for since they started putting up the fake trees on Labor Day. The planning, the shopping, the baking, the parties are essentially a Mobius strip of warmup bands preparing us for the main event. Tonight Facebook exploded with Merry Christmas wishes at the stroke of midnight, followed shortly by many declarations of "and to all a good night." So, I guess that means by now all the wee ones are nestled and snug in their wee little beds, and the adults have settled at last for a long winters nap.

I might be a wee bit envious, because I didn't get back home from church until after 1am.

For a working musician who is also a parent of a heavily scheduled teenaged musician who are both card-carrying members of an entire family of working musicians, Christmas is what I'm waiting for too, but not necessarily for the same reasons.  Christmas is a giant symbolic finish line to a race that started around the beginning of November.  And don't get me wrong here -- I'm not complaining about Christmas the holiday whatsoever.  But now that I've made it to THE DAY,  I'm ready now to celebrate with the rest of the world and then move on.  It's nice to spend a lot of time with the things we already have. But if we never remember to look up, we will have missed so much.  There are new signs and songs and stories everywhere.