Noticing lxx - Christmas videos

Photo by David

We don't really observe Christmas. We don't have a tree this year—as usual. (Well, we have a two-foot-high tree made of multicolored jingle bells that I saved from my mother's things. It perches on our mantel, next to the menorah, and reminds me of her.) We do have old-fashioned colored lights on our roof edge, because we enjoy the festive appearance. We did have one wrapped package, the annual calendar from David's sister, Patty, which we traditionally open on Christmas eve. Wait, no: there were two more wrapped packages, if you count wrapping paper that is our weekly throwaway newspaper—because I didn't want to waste fancy Christmas-themed gift-wrap. Cheap? Lazy? Conscientious? Maybe a bit of all three.

I did put on Handel's Messiah while I cooked the sauce for our Christmas lasagne, which we will share today with our friend Nina. I love the Messiah. It just happens to tell the Christmas story—as well as the Easter story. I rather enjoy that there are two perfect opportunities a year to listen to it, even if I'm not invested in the specific events narrated.

But this year, I have to admit that I've been enjoying the various creative Christmas videos that I've stumbled on, on FB. They truly are heartwarming. And heaven knows, we need more of that in these dark times. Here are a few of them. It will be nice to have them archived in one place, so next year I can return at Christmas and have my heart warmed all over again.

The first one is described thus: "It's Christmas Eve in Finnish Lapland. Police patrol 967's Pekka and Saana are on duty. It has been a slow day, but then something happens..."

And this one, by Southland Christian Church: "What happens when you ask a bunch of kids to tell the story of Christmas? Enjoy this story of Bethle-ha-ha-ham and the magical star that appeared."

This one is from Wales, made for only £100 by Hafod Hardware store owner Thomas Lewis Jones, who lives in the tiny town of Rhayader (pop. 1,879). "Arthur, the two-year-old star, presumably didn't take a fee." (This is Jones's third such annual ad.) Its theme: #BeAKidThisChristmas.

And finally, from Poland: "English for Beginners / Czego szukasz w Święta?" (2013). The Polish means, "What are you looking for at Christmas?"