A Conspiracy of Love

"Blessed is the Season that engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love"
Hamilton Wright Mamie

That's what Christmas is to me a season. A time where whole communities find themselves inadvertently drawn together; ends tied up, acknowledgements made, thanks given..a time of remembering & busy-ness, yet even in the bustle we come closer to kindness, we try harder to be "nice" than at any other time of the year. Somehow kindness, thoughtfulness & love manage to break through..it's the baby that does it He melts hearts. As you see our nativity has two babies & a zebra..a wee concession to Rob being born in Nairobi.

I've been pondering that word nativity this week. It doesn't really pop up at any other time really when you think about it, just Christmas, yet we talk about ante-natal & post-natal quite often..then I saw the term "on this your natal day" on an old postcard the other day. Your natal day is your day of birth & the nativity is all the facts & details surrounding that new beginning. Now I'm just making this up a bit, but nativity is like the activity around the facts of your existence..born to whom, where, how etc. The nativity of the birth of Jesus of Nazereth is the one that is most memorable & holds the most power in all of history & is in fact a conspiracy of LOVE...

When we get out the decorations, make the cake, gather or make & wrap the gifts..we weave the colourful threads of memory & hope through life, through a family, a community..
we join in the conspiracy..God's plan of hope..

 Last year about this time our whole world (as we new it) had collapsed & having been away training for a new job teaching first aid Rob arrived home with this French Country plant support as a gift for me, which then morphed in to a Christmas tree. It was pronounced the "quantum tree" this week...& we were able to reflect on how amazing it was to get through this year & be ok..even flourish!  yahoo GRATEFUL!!

little music box...shh Kaitiaki hasn't seen it yet

 Floss over at Troc, Broc & Recup' has been kindly hosting this "Pause in Advent".
All week I have been giggling about her sons "reddery" that goes with all the greenery.
Funny how once the red cherries arrived on the scene it really began to feel like Christmas. Since then I have been noticing just how many red things we have in New zealand clustered around this time.
Such a good time to be selling fruit & so nice to give some away too.
Oh, do pop in here for my apricot & honey balls..they are so easy & really useful around about now : )

Pure reddery.

with every blessing & much

 xoxoxo