Out on Patterson Avenue the hope for Christmas

Today is Christmas Eve.

The last hours of the sprint to Christmas Day are upon us.

As I continue to rapidly age, time blitzes me.

Time moves faster than a desperate group of shoppers descending upon their last store of hope. Their bundled mass swirls into the store like agitated yellow jackets who have been jarred awake in their ground nest by the accidental step of an unaware intruder.

From Thanksgiving to this most anticipated eve, the days have no pause. Their motion is unrestrained and constant.

It is as if the earth spins uncontrollably on its axis charging hastily into each new dawn. I sense the spinning world wants to quickly place the faults of 2023 into its rearview mirror.

You have heard my whine before about our rush into the Christmas season. I will not whine today. You know how I feel about that gallop.

Back on November 28, our oldest daughter, Lauren, was driving her children, Caroline and Hudson, to their elementary school.

Caroline made this observation: “I bet Jesus would be really happy to see all of these decorations for his birthday.”

I love Caroline’s honest, simple reflection. What I loved even more was the fact that she was thinking about the birthday of Jesus at this early morning hour.

Not sure about your hometown, but here in Richmond, Virginia from late November through the end of December we have Tacky Light Tours. All across the Richmond region homeowners overly decorate the exteriors of their homes with Christmas lights and seasonal displays.

Maps are produced of these approved locations, people rent limos, and even tour buses to view these showy displays. Kids love them, parents gawk like their kids, Clark Griswold would be envious, and our electricity supplier, Dominion Energy, is delirious.

I will confess that over the years, we piled our kids, in-laws, and out of town guests into cars to view some of these nearby tacky lights.

In truth, these displays leave no lasting impression on me. Clearly, I admire the passion of the displayers. These tacky displays require planning, setting up, taking down, storing, and finding the pennies to pay the electric bill.

In my Grinch and Scrooge grounded aging, I’m more attracted to simple seasonal displays. For years in our neighborhood, I was drawn to a singular star in the front yard of a home.

This heavenly light was attached by a line to a large tree limb. The star gracefully dangled from its perch to be clearly seen on Baldwin Road in either direction.

Sadly, the family who displayed the star moved to California. But, my sludged brain has not released the memory of that star cast against a dark December sky.

At some point during the last days of November, I was driving west on Patterson Avenue. I had just passed the intersection with Forest Avenue. A rapidly approaching December was already practicing its early nightfall routine saying goodbye to a speedy setting sun.

As I drove up the crest of a hill, to my right, my eyes were drawn to a display of Christmas lights at the edge of a yard. I was so captured by the sight that I promised myself to come back the next morning to take a photograph.

In the predawn light of Friday, December 1, I made the short drive to the house on Patterson Avenue. The Christmas lights were still on. From the median turn lane, I hooked a left into east bound Patterson, and pulled off to park on a side street.

Wearing a reflective safety vest, I made sure no early commuting drivers would flatten me, and I took my photos of this simple display illuminating the word—“PEACE.”

Yes, I think Caroline’s assessment about the decorations in honor of the birthday of Jesus is correct. I imagine the combination of tacky lights and simple seasonal displays are a sight for Jesus to behold from heaven.

At this point in my life, I also believe the best birthday present that I could give him is peace— a sustainable worldwide peace.

Despite the breakneck speed of time, I keep hoping and praying that our pace will slow, and jolt us awake in order to commit to making peace around this whole world.

Psalm 34 verse 14 reminds us: “Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.”

You, me, we, us are overdue to pursue peace, and we can’t let fear stop us.

Merry Christmas with love and peace, Bill Pike