Are you also wrapping presents using recycled and worn paper from last year and listening to Paula Abdul?

Right now, this very minute, is the time of year when traditions come out to play.  I am trying to partake in as many traditions as possible this year.  For the the 21st year in a row I galloped with 600 strangers through a theater.  I also attempted the high note on the second verse of Noel.  As I sat in the Christmas Eve service at Unitarian church tonight listening to the minister tell a version of the Christmas story where Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were only alluded to, I became excited with the layers around me.

Yes, I was wearing two sweaters, but I’m referring to the deep layers of meaning that happen in proximity to pipe organs.  Though, for the sake of full disclosure, one of my sweaters is a bit short in the torso, and I end up tugging it down over my never-ending trunk.  The other has sleeves that end one inch before they should.  When I realized that wearing them together would negate their differences and keep me warmer, I did a tiny jump and played it off as a fashion decision.

Wedged into the pew with my two sweaters and family I listened to simple tales of the past as I looked at the backside of the head of a living Wikipedia entry. Tim Berners-Lee, the individual that actually invented the World Wide Web, was two pews up, singing ‘Oh Come All Ye Faithful’ as if he hadn’t made this mind-blowing contribution to the world.  My mom poked us a few times to tell us it was him.  I wonder what he gets his kids for Christmas? The future? Outer space? Eternity? It must be hard to top the internet.

I don’t know what they’re doing in Holland tonight, but I saw the Christmas parade a few weeks ago.  I think ‘parade’ in Dutch must mean, ‘semi truck with lights.’  Allow me to share with you, the sweet sweet sounds of Christmas in Holland:

Merry Christmas to everyone.  To Tim, an extra thumbs up.