Photo of the Week: Feliz Navidad

And so this is Christmas.

Almost.

The festoonings that appeal to me most are not the faux nostalgic "country Christmas" kitsch you see in every emporium, or genteel arrays of pine cones and evergreen, but rather the worn, sad, faded tinsel of decades past, with its numinous patina of yesteryear. That's because I like to think of Xmas as essentially a contemplative, recollective time, close to the solstice and the shortest day of tapering year.

"The sign of Christmas is a star, a light in darkness. See it not outside of yourself, but shining in the Heaven within." --ACIM

I shot the sign above last spring, on the 92nd day of Christmas. Click it for maximum merriment.