Winter Visitors!

My mom came to visit us this week, along with our dear friends from Mt. Vernon. What a treat it's been to welcome others who love Holden Village as well as to introduce the village to my mom. All are delighted by the beautiful snow we've been enjoying. It is heartwarming in the truest sense to spend time with long-loved people.

The evening worship included candles, carols, and communion.

Afterward Santa Claus came to visit kids young and old (Doug, our electrician was nowhere to be seen during these festivities...)!

Christmas Eve dinner in the dining hall with four Advent candles and the Christmas candle lit.

Sockeye salmon with a dill mustard sauce, freshly baked roles, deliciously sauteed kale, rice and Christmas cookies greeted us at the table before the evening worship service. Wine and sparkling cider accompanied the meal, adding to the festivities.

A Rich Christmas

Have you heard the reports of this year's "bleak" Christmas? They're hard to miss. Things are worse than they have been in decades, according to the media and the retail industry. It truly is an indictment of how we've chosen to live over the last many years that the main indicator of how good a Christmas is seems to be how much money we are spending at the mall. We're so used to hearing how great things are when the Dow is up, and how worried we should be when profits for corporations are down that we risk losing sight of what makes Christmas meaningful and rich if we listen.

Are we to believe what media reports are emphasizing?

My dear aunt died this year, but my mom is healthy and well this year, as is my dad; we are separated from long-time friends this Christmas, but they are still thinking of us and will welcome us home in 2009; my children will be paying on our outrageous national debt for decades to come, but many fellow citizens are working hard to make things better for our country.

Instead of measuring the tone of this Christmas by economic indicators, I pray that we all will kick those superficial measures out the door into the snow! Let us instead joyfully embrace and welcome in the treasures of the health and presence of family members, the warmth of friendships renewed and nurtured, the opportunity for laughter and joy in the midst of any situation, the ability to lend a hand to someone who needs help, and the hope that there are real possibilities for change and growth in 2009.

Love and blessings of joy to you!

A White Christmas

Finally we are experiencing a lot of snow at Holden Village, just in time for many guests to arrive to spend Christmas here. There will be a special Christmas Eve meal tomorrow night, and services tomorrow night as well as Christmas morning. Tonight we heard a reggae choir sing a delightful Christmas song composed by the formal village musician and all-around wonderful music maker, Rolf Vegdahl. Nate played guitar in the band, Maya sang in the 15+ person strong choir, and all in the dining hall enjoyed the spirited rhythm of the song based on Micah 5, about a leader from Bethlehem who will lead his flock.

We are so thankful that our kids get to participate in wonderful community events like this with talented folks of all ages.

Big Snow

Wonderful snow formations can be seen just outside the village, including this unusual drift atop two adjacent trees, and the snow and ice in Railroad Creek.

This is part of our daily view, just steps away from our chalet, the dining hall, and our offices. We can bundle up and head into the wilderness, take it all in, and be back in our offices in under 15 minutes.

Today it actually felt relatively warm. When we looked at the thermometer it read 14 degrees. Because it has been hovering around 5 degrees Fahrenheit, and we've been freezing during our one-minute walks between buildings, the warm-up felt great! Ah, what a difference a few degrees can make!

Our wild Christmas tree

Today we trekked into the snowy woods to find the perfect Christmas tree. Maya helped to saw down the cute, scrawny tree we found and then we hauled it back to our chalet.

Nate and Maya decorated the tree as we listened to Christmas music and thought about the Christmas festivities to come -- our first white Christmas in a long time.

Waiting, missing, hoping

Today as I walked the labyrinth in snow shoes, my thoughts turned to the dread that I have not admitted to myself until now: the impending reality of spending Christmas away from close friends and family. For over four months now we have enjoyed new experiences and have slowly adjusted to life in a tiny community. We have met a lot of very nice people who are on staff and many interesting and kind guests of the village. But our thoughts keep returning to the people back home who have known us long and know us deeply--and love us anyway.

Going off for a year to volunteer at Holden Village sounded like a vacation or an escape from the real world to some who first heard our news. "What fun it will be going to camp!" some exclaimed, or, "How nice that you can take some time off."

To others, it sounded like a way to live differently from the pace of our modern society which often puts commerce above all else and seems to have largely forgotten the importance of people and community. We are really thankful for the rest from relentless commercialism that holidays in Holden Village offer during the Advent and Christmas season. We are nestled in a warm chalet, passing kind and familiar faces as we walk around the snow-covered village, quietly contemplating what holiness means in the midst of bright candles in the darkness of the worship space.

But still there is a yearning. To sit with a friend who has known me for years, and just have a cup of tea, to go for a run around Lake Padden with a friend who doesn't mind my slowness, or to enjoy poetry and chocolate with a beloved group of women who fill my soul. To work closely with my friends at church to teach a Sunday School class or help out at a community meal.

We believe that we were called to serve a year at Holden Village because it is a place of renewal and uplift for so many, including our family and many friends. We were excited for the challenge and adventure of living with limited electricity, no phones, no television, no commercial advertising in the remote wilderness of the North Cascades. What we are learning is that the wilderness goes deeper into our hearts and souls.

There is a reason for struggle and discomfort and feeling disconnected. We believe that there is a lot to learn from situations like these, and that in the end there will be a lot of good which benefits our family, our community and the larger world.

For now, however, it is just a time of quiet reflection on the paradoxical value of being apart. And we wait -- appropriately for Advent -- we wait for a time when we'll return to the warmth of familiar friendships and community.

Las Posadas

Las Posadas ("The Inns") is a Mexican tradition in which Mary & Joseph's search for an inn is re-enacted. They go to each inn and sing a song requesting refuge, only to be rejected (see mean innkeepers below who have no sympathy!).

Here at Holden, a procession of "Joseph & Mary" figurines and all people in the village went from inn to inn, finally to be let in with warm hospitality (which looked a lot like a Mexican fiesta in the village dining hall, with live music, Mexican food, and a celebratory atmosphere)!

Moon in the Mountains

The night before last as I walked toward the dining hall with a friend, we marveled at the brightness of the village at a time when it should be covered in the darkness of the night. The full moon shined down on the mountains, and without the light pollution we're used to in the cities, its blue light uplifted the people and illuminated the buildings and pathways of the village. Truly we are in a place set apart for seeing life differently, as though seeing somehow with the eyes of our hearts.