This week I went to the store. It was my first time venturing into a place of business since March. Our kids have valiantly done the shopping and mailed the parcels. But after four months it was time to face the outside world. 

 

I needed a slab of white fabric, and ribbon. The idea for our Christmas card landed in my imagination, and after a few prototypes I was on a roll.  It felt like an act of hope... that Christmas really will come, and even if I cannot be with people I care for today, I can craft a modest card to send them next winter.

 

Netflix suggested Fiddler on the Roof as my companion, so between singing along I stitched and ironed. Tevye is on a first name basis with God and comes to Him with his problems. For instance his oldest daughter had the notion to pick her own husband, based on such intangibles as affection rather than wealth. Or tradition. He saw this as an affront to his long held beliefs, and yet while looking into his daughter's eyes he softened. The groom was a man after my own heart... he adores his sewing machine. Next his daughter Hodel wanted to wed a man entrenched in the revolution, even following him to exile. Tevye wrestled with letting her go, until he looked in her glorious eyes. 

 

Chava was his favorite but she stretched him beyond his limit. She married a Christian. He refused to speak to or even look at her. 

 

The turmoil within Tevye's family was matched by the violence hammered on the Jewish people from the Russian army. They were forced to leave their homes and immigrate to other lands. It was a sad time in history. 

 

The cards I am making are simple. A snow white gift with a ribbon is embedded in a background of scarlet fabric that is printed with gold letters. The text from the Christmas story appears in snippets. 

 

"good tid"

 

"tar which they"

 

"rapped in swa"

 

For most of the people who will slip these cards out of the envelope next winter these few syllables will be enough. Tradition will flesh out the rest of the message. I noticed that the event I am honoring was a sad time too. People were forced to flee to far off lands, to shirk off oppression, to resist hating each other on the basis of religion. 

 

Jesus was born as an invitation to act from love rather than habit. He came to earth to be close enough to look into our eyes. He knows that even if we do not feel close to Him today, one day soon we will. 

 

Two thousand years ago. A hundred. Today. 

 

Perhaps the story keeps rising to the surface because it takes a lifetime to learn it.