Crystal and Sand

We all but fell into bed, pulling mounds of downy fluff up to our chins, smiling and giggling (I'll let you figure out who was giggling) as we recollected our day.

A fairy tale day. Well, maybe a bit more real than that, but it was delightfully woven with the magical in the midst of ordinary beauty.

A Christmas shopping trip was made to nearby Lake Placid -- a brumal and festive, light-lined and bough-festooned wonderland replete with Adirondack chalets and ski lodges and holiday store fronts designed to pull in the most fatigued of shoppers. We shopped for hours, finding all we needed (and wanted).

We dined on a cushioned and pillowed timber bench near a cavernous stone-fronted fireplace at the Lake Placid Lodge, a gem of Adirondack elegance tucked away in frosted woodlands overlooking the ice-sparkling lake. White Face Mountain dominated the landscape; sun-rays pierced the flocculent sky surrounding the semi-shrouded peak creating streaks of gold on the pink-tinted clouds. Magic. Absolute.

From this winter-wonderland we ferried ourselves away to beautiful homes stunningly dressed for holiday parties boasting wassail and cookie trays and cakes and song and dear dear friends and family. We savored the goodies, reveled in the friendship, and delighted in celebration.

And then we were home. Tired in the best of ways, having given our time and energy to one another and to friends in the best of celebrations: His birth.

And as we recalled the joy and the wonder the reality came, too -- as it is wont to do to those who have seen many days and many months congregate into many years.

"Yes, another grain of sand passed through the hour glass," observes she, matter-of-factly, for she is adjusting to this phenomenon though it is true that once upon a time it was always said with a wistful tear and sigh.

"Oh, such melancholy!" declares he teasingly with twinkling eyes.

"Ah, but so true," says she knowingly, returning the smile.

And so my prayer becomes, "Lord, may we have eyes to see and enjoy the sparkling bits of crystalline chips collecting alongside the ordinary sand. And even more, may we have eyes to see and enjoy them in the making."