Happy Christmas!

Having blogging issues with my IPAD, which I use on vacations, since it's more portable, but more a consuming, not producing, device.

Excuses aside, late Merry Christmas! from Saas Fee, a family ski resort about 2 hours from Lausanne.

Not sure when Happy became Merry in American English, so these vintage cards interest me. I collected several at an antique shop on Whidbey Island and enjoy the melancholic mood these 100 yr old messages put me in - greetings to servicemen on Ft Casey... 

 

an abandoned garrison Michael and Jack explore. Ghosts of Christmas past indeed.

I guess this is the 4th day of Christmastide, pointing to Epiphany on Jan 6th, as the kings/magi/wise men -- Gentiles -- spread the good news to all the earth. Some Europeans exchange gifts on Jan 5th, clearly separating earthly gifts from the gift of Christ. Nice.

I enjoy reclaiming these liturgical forms, discovering their timeworn logic & beauty, with the occasional "so that's what that was for" response.