Love and Joy Come to You

Legend says as the American West was being settled by pioneers,  a candle was often left burning in a window after dark.  This marked the cabin as a safe place to stop for rest.  For the past week I have been anticipating the arrival of my three grown kids from various places.  I’ve had a candle on the window sill as a happy reminder they would soon be home.

Ice has been our family nemesis this holiday season.  The oldest slipped out of Oklahoma between threats of ice.  The youngest had me on pins and needles arriving along with the ice here.  And the middle child is bunking down in a strange hotel in Chicago.  She made it that far from Paris, but can get no closer to home since the rest of the route is ice covered.  And now snow has started.  Not the fluffy, flakey snow, but the kind that pelts you in the face stinging with every blow.  It mocks me as I hear it bounce on the roof making me wonder if air travel is going to be any better tomorrow.

But we are all safe and warm.  We all have a comfortable bed to sleep in even if it is not under the same roof tonight.  We will be together soon.  For now I will content myself with some Christmas music, the cheer of the candle in the window, and the knowledge that the snow outside will look so much prettier when we are all together.

Good master and good mistress,
As you sit beside the fire,
Pray think of us poor children
Who wander in the mire.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year

(The Wassail Song)

Written in 2013 as my daughter made her way home from study abroad in Paris.  Tonight she is headed home once more--this time from North Carolina.