A cup of good cheer...and then some

“Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;
Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;
Oh, bring us a figgy pudding and a cup of good cheer.”

I didn't sleep too well last night and the reason is simple: I had a cup of coffee at 9 o'clock p.m. Last night was the annual holiday concert at Chetek-Weyerhaeuser High School which doubles often as a late December homecoming event. So many former alums come back to watch the performance and then jump in for Carol of the Bells and the grand finale, the Hallelujah Chorus, in which any member of the audience is welcome to come down and join the choir. Afterwards there is the afterglow during which former classmates reunite and share the tidings of the season. There are hugs all around.

It was her day all day long

Olivia was our daughter's, Emma, best bud in high school and it was her birthday yesterday. It was during the post-concert meet-and-greet that Amanda, Olivia's mom, began inviting a number of us over to their home to enjoy a piece of cake at an impromptu birthday gathering. A little later there we all were in their front room enjoying a delicious piece of wonderful topped with ice cream after singing several varieties of birthday songs to the belle of the ball herself. It was about that time that Scott, Olivia's dad, asked, “Pastor, would you like some coffee?” Given the hour, I hesitated for a moment but then acquiesced. I probably could have changed my order to, say, water had I done so in the next minute or two but once I heard the coffee perking in the kitchen it was too late to wave off the big mug of Joe that was soon placed in my hand.

For the next hour or so we regaled each other with stories of trips we've made, places we've visited, and good memories of shared events in that meandering stream of conscience manner that conversations like that tend to flow. In our circle there were a sampling of middle school, high school and college students as well as parental units sharing and listening amicably with one another with a generous amount of laughter mixed in. It was like a gathering of old friends connecting again after a very long time.

I only had one cup of coffee but that was enough to ensure that by 2:30 or so I would doze in and out of consciousness until my alarm went off a few hours later. And it was during one of those waking moments that I had a thought: that delightful hour or so of conversation and sharing came with no electronic aids whatsoever – no tweeting, no home page feed, no texting. Had the power gone out we could have carried on without missing a beat as the room was already pleasingly lit with candles. And then I had another thought: we don't really need a special occasion to get together. Olivia's family and our family live but five blocks apart from each other. If we wanted to we could see each other far more often than we normally do.

None of us know any more what people did in the days before television and the Internet pretty much took over our households. But my guess is they did a lot more of what we did last night: sitting around a table enjoying homemade cake while sharing old stories and new with people they loved and cared about. The smart ones probably were like the smart ones last night choosing water and milk over the guy who chose coffee. But you know, there's one in every crowd.

Welcome Christmas, fah who rah-moose Welcome Christmas, dah who dah-moose Christmas day will always be Just so long as we have we  “Welcome Christmas” by Dr. Seuss