It’s the evening of a December 24. In one home on this December 24, there are no Christmas lights, much less a tree.
There are no cookies, save for the Oreos that have been in the pantry for a while, hidden behind the cans of soup that have been there for a while. There are also no presents, just presence.
The resident of the said location knows what day it is even if he doesn’t have any special “feeling” toward what day it is.
On his mind right now is the obligation he has to meet later. That’s all it is — an obligation. There’s nothing joyful or festive about it. It’s an obligation.
For illustration purposes, we’ll call him “Obie” for short.
Equidistant and opposite from the locale of the obligation is another man.
His house is full, the dining room table is about to be full, he’s telling people his heart is full, and his tolerance for stress is about full.
He looks out into his large and well-earned living room and sees it bustling with generations of relatives.
Those he doesn’t see he can definitely hear with about 35 conversations going on among 25 people.
As he looks into the refrigerator — also full — he says “egg nog” to no one in particular and realizes he and his wife went shopping with list version 2.4 instead of version 2.5 which had the latest additions to it.
“Honey,” he says to his honey, as he puts on his jacket, “I have to head to the store, we forgot [this, this, this, and this]”.
By some miracle — or years of practice — they are able to display patience and frustration simultaneously toward their guests and themselves respectively as he heads out to spend more on the best Christmas that money can buy his loved ones.
By the way, we’re going to call this man “Fuller”.
Back in the other part of the world, Obie is walking to his obligation.
Being 25 degrees out, it’s not too terrible to be walking to where he’s going and it’s a good way to avoid traffic and parking. That sounds like a great Christmas present to one’s self. Avoid people, stress, and awkward situations as much as possible. Noel, indeed.
Meantime, Fuller doesn’t want to keep anyone waiting so it’s time for the 10-miles-per-hour-over-the-speed-limit-because-everyone-else-does-it driving. It’s not like anyone else is out at this time anyway unless they forgot to buy egg nog and other priorities. Season’s greetings, of course!
Going past the large, tall, and brick building on his left, Fuller pauses from his problems for one second, a perfectly timed second.
Someone wearing dark-colored clothes was crossing the street right in front of him.
As Obie rotated between denying and dwelling on the reality of what almost happened to him, Fuller got out of the car with all of the energy of someone who had lost what little patience he had left and rained four-letter blows upon him.
Deciding to leave and forget the whole thing, Obie turned and started to continue to walk toward the large, tall, and brick church when Fuller asked a profound and sincere, “Are you OK?”
For a split second, Obie thought about being honest, but said, “I’m OK, don’t worry about it. Sorry, I was just heading to Mass.”
As the doors of the church commenced with their constant opening and closing as new people went inside, the sounds of the before Mass choir and handbell concert could be heard outside.
Fuller walked toward the festive sounds while Obie followed a bit behind, wanting to sneak him in somehow without crossing his path.
Soon, they were both inside the church’s gathering space, in the midst of Christmas trees and lights, church-goers dressed like it was Christmas Eve, smiles galore, and sacred music.
Fuller took one step more inside.
He wanted to stay. He wanted to go get his whole family and bring them here. He wanted to know where this new feeling would go, so sincere and full of joy.
Obie could tell Fuller was taken in by all that was being seen and heard.
Obie took one more step toward him.
He wanted to ask him what his name was and invite him to stay.
Soon, Obie continued on into the church and Fuller got back to his car.
They both continued on their ways as if they had not run into each other, or they tried to.
As Mass began, Obie did something he hadn’t done in a long time. He picked up the blue-bounded book and sang along “O come, all ye faithful” and even joined in the awkward greeting the priest encouraged everyone to do during the Introductory Rites.
Later at the nice home, Fuller said to Honey, “We should go to to Church tomorrow, all of us.”
We and the world, are not perfect. A lot of the world, and us in our weak moments, could not even be called “good”.
My wish for the holiday is let’s all take one step toward being better and making a better world, no matter the circumstances.
We have a long way to go, but we have to start somewhere.
May you all have a blessed and merry Christmas.
Thank you for reading.
I’m praying for you.