It is Christmas Eve. Votives flicker with candlelight. The holy carols you know by heart are playing gently from the speaker, setting the tone for the evening. This is a quiet night, and a holy one—one in which we celebrate the coming of light into our world of darkness.
There is a reason we search for light in the darkest time of the year. There’s a reason why we reach for things of warmth—the twinkling colors of Christ lights in the city, the popped corks of sparkling cider bottles, the glow of headlights on a rainy street, a bag of roasted nuts from the market square, a hot shower at the end of the day, a mug of steaming tea. All of these things give us the comfort we long for. Carols were composed for the same purpose—so that in music, we might find a fragment of hope to warm our tired souls in the winter.
I think the reason I love the “Christmas spirit” so much is because, in the season of merriment and generosity, we are closer to our true home than any other time of the year. In a way, the bleakness of midwinter gives us the darkness we need to see the light. Advent allows us to see that we are children of light, exiled from our true home.
It is the time when we remember how the divine first broke into our everyday, when magic first came into the world. I pray that as you savor this holy night, you light a candle of your own, and with it, light a quiet prayer. Allow your heart to be silent tonight—for only by quieting it will you be able to hear, at last, the true song shining through the midwinter night.
Merry Christmas to all—and to all, a good night.
<3 Olivia Grace
