Christmas Day has arrived. The gifts have been opened. People have marveled at the the ability to dream of futures filled with joy and happiness.
As families survey the aftermath, a collective sigh of pleased exhaustion settles in. There are decorative papers, ribbons galore, and the cat is discovering her inner kitten again. Youngsters commandeer boxes, drape them with blankets and quilts, and they become forts and castles for damsels in distress and heroic knights to dream of the impossible. It is a state of mild reverie.
Then comes dinnertime. Everyone scoops the flotsam up and away. Breads, spuds, meats and spices add their scents as the conversation turns to loved ones near and far to friends long ago and barely remembered. Those gathered make a celebratory shout for a good time and a great New Year. This is a simple pleasure to be enjoyed.
Evening comes and the lights come on. Greens, blues, reds, oranges, yellows and whites join the thousand points that light the sky. Sipping the cheer of cocoa and eggnog by a comforting fire lets reflections continue their brilliant embrace.
Christmas time on the calendar has begun, was lived and ended. To those we love and rejoice with, it has been a day.
Tomorrow will come, and with it a new dawn and new dreams. Right now it’s unknown where travails and travels will take us. A calm sets in as the sails unfurl. Tomorrow beckons. Adventures big and small await in that vast space. Afore us lies a new course.
May all enjoy this time, with a solemn oath to return a year hence with tales tall and true — a cup of kindness shared and sipped and a simple flame to light our way.
Orpheus Allison is a photojournalist living in The County who graduated from UMPI and earned a master of liberal arts degree from the University of North Carolina. He began his journalism career at WAGM television, worked around the U.S., and later changed careers and taught in China and Korea.
