I was engaged in my favorite pastime…this time of year…admiring the Christmas decorations in Campus Woods…when what did I hear but the faint sound of bells ringing…perhaps it was Santa and his reindeer a few days early. As I was photographing the ornaments that have been placed on the trees in the woods by benevolent Christmas Celebrators…the faint pleasant peel of bells increased…and I marveled at the Christmas Magic that I was witness to. Then…a woman passed me jogging and her Dachshund ran…as best he could…behind her as the bells that were affixed to his collar sounded their glorious refrain.

Christmas is three days away and we wait for the birth of Jesus. In our world which seems to be centered on every woman and man for themselves…we wait for the Christ who taught us to love each other as we love ourselves. We wait for the gift of God who rode into Jerusalem on an Ass and had palms cast in front of him and who was acclaimed as the Son of God…who later was beaten and had a crown of thorns placed upon his head…and who was crucified. At times we are a fickle lot…We say that we want one thing…and when we get it…we suddenly decide that we want something else instead. Moses went up onto the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments and after he was gone a few days the Hebrews in the Wilderness lost hope and told Aaron to fashion them a Golden Calf to worship…

So now we wait for the hope of the ages…over two thousand years…the birth of the Babe in the manger in a barn…because there was no room in the inn.