Third Sunday of Advent

Dear Diary,

Advent is a time of waiting, of preparing.  It is a time of anticipation as well.  For me, it is also a time of looking back, at Christmases past.  It is a time of memory and remembrance.  These are my little Advent candles.  The green ones smell of the north woods.  The picture behind it is a reproduction of a painting by Lauren Ford (1891-1973) and is called Epiphany in Bethlehem, Connecticut.  I purchased it at the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, CT a couple of years ago.

Tomorrow I will travel to another Bethlehem, this time in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  Many years ago I went there to mail my Christmas cards, they have a wonderful and special cancellation mark, and I thought I would do it again this year since the weather is going to be good.  My post tomorrow will be later than usual because of my trip.

Place names have a certain power, to inspire us or draw us in.  Here in New England so many of our place names have Native American ancestry.  Bethlehem, NH has no relationship to the "real" Bethlehem of course yet every year thousands of people from all over the world send their cards to Bethlehem to be cancelled and sent out.  I have no idea why.  Perhaps the other 25 or so "Bethlehems" in the US also have this up tick in postal activity each year as well.

I have always wanted to travel to the Holy Land but as the years go by, and the tensions in the region increase, the likely hood of that gets slimmer and slimmer.  Going to Bethlehem, CT or NH is not the same but some trips are more metaphysical than they are physical.  So I will set out early tomorrow to visit a little village nestled in the White Mountains.  Yes, to mail my cards but also to experience to beauty of these magnificent mountains.  It was the "Holy Land" to the Native Americans at one time and that is good enough for me.