Christmas at the Kingsland Library

Staff Editorial from The Kingsland Library Post

I hope you will peruse this special Christmas edition of the Kingsland Library Post thoroughly. We are excited about all the December programs that we have to offer to help make your season a little brighter. However, instead of attempting to recap our open house, special children’s programs, Cookie Crumble, and youth hayride and cookout, I wanted to talk a little about the season itself because, you know, there’s a lot going on. In here, out there. On the news, in the world. Concerning my house, my job, my friends, my family. Some of it’s concerning; most of it should hold little, if any at all.
Christmas is busier than it ought to be, more stressful than it should be, not as organic as it could be, and more commercial than it used to be.
Most of us probably cook too much, clean too much, spend too much, and, subsequently, complain too much.
We worry about the right present for the right person, the right clothes for the right party, the right meal for the right people.
If you are anything like me, you either give up or wish you could sleep the sleep of the dead (for a day or two anyway!). After all, gone is the warm breath of summer, winter is cold, and the year is dying.
However, as I watched my newborn daughter portray the Baby Jesus in a pageant, and watched my husband tenderly wrapping her “in swaddling clothes;” when I saw big brother holding her hand; when a man fighting for his life made Christmas happen for a lot of children, I realized… There’s a lot of Life in this season of Christmas.
Whatever else the season brings, our simple holiday celebrations ought to remind us of the Life and the lives around us. And not only the lives of those we know and care about; the poet, John Donne once wrote, “Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” May the joy and loss of our fellow man be equally shared.
I am reminded of a little boy in one of our children’s programs who boldly announced, “Our Christmas tree is dead! But, we’re going to get a new one!” May all that is dying or simply dead be renewed and brought to Life in this season of “Joy which shall be to all people.”