Passing thru Christmas

Lovely confused narcissus in winter bloom. It was good to get out to pick up garbage by the road today in the dynamic cold wind, chilling my fingers with the slippery grip of clutching slimy plastic... so good to bend down and excrete another calorie or two during the effort.
Yesterday was a lovely Christmas and quite out of sequence in the photos.

This Santa is Gregory and he's sort of a conspiracy theorist guy and not nearly so jolly as he looks BUT yesterday at the Christmas vigil he gave me a pair of socks and two jingle bells. Even though he is on a low and fixed income he walks around with a big jar of jingle bells and gives them out to anyone who smiles at him in his unique Christmas hat.

Some of the people at the vigil come every week but we were joyed to have a family group join us and swell our ranks and make light out of the rain that soaked us for the last ten minutes of our peace observance. Princes and Princesses of Peace it was lovely to meet them.

In the morning we had a big no waffles barred breakfast and the neighbors and ex-neighbors came and their families and partners, like how it is here at Riparia. None of my photos came out well but I thought this one was sweetish. Master gardener Bruce who you might know from Farmer's Market came with Lucinda, his ex, and their kids all in their pajamas. I loved the morning for food, company, carols and Apples to Apples.

Meanwhile the parallel lives of others emerge through the winter bare branches. These are unknown neighbors tenting across the creek from us.. in the cold, in the rain. Yesterday at the vigil a homeless couple passed by on foot with their small baby in a carrier-- where were they when the rain started? I'm just being with it and giving here and there but this is a community issue. No matter what the behavior, people are still people of intrinsic worth and need shelter and food at the very least.

Hey, really. What would Jesus say? Who else is being born homeless in a drafty barn somewhere? All are our relations.