this year I need Christmas

We had our holiday party today at work. It was our regular Casual Games product unit meeting, but specially catered with little white lights wound around our food and a special cloth under them. It was a "just us" meeting -- what we've done the last 6 months, what we're planning for the next 6. It reminded me of the Odin Teatret. A homey matter-of-fact celebration, after a year of hard work, in our own tall-ceilinged room off the cafeteria, with the sky & trees dusking behind us. Nothing is of exaggerated importance, but it all gets tended to. Like a cared-for farm.

I liked the lights and the beauty. My spirit is thirsty for this. I am grateful for all we have done, and all we are doing. I love being in this group; it's values are aligned with mine. I like how well we work with other groups, how long-sighted we are. I like working in a group where actual elders are running it. It is comforting, to have the big roots laid straight, the big snarls untangled; to be in a group of people striving for wisdom, as well as for watering the seedlings and making sure the cows get fed today.

Light the candles, sing the song
winter's come and summer's gone
Mary's babe in straw is laid
Li Po surfs the wind's mad glade

To clean the kitchen before dark
is the spirit's surest mark
Every broken heart can mend
with sleep and help, with caring friend