The dark days of winter

The dark days of winter are finally upon us and several people were reacting to them, including Fr. Davis who said he is already looking forward to spring. I'm even feeling a touch of it, though I adjusted a couple of decades ago. It's clearly going to be a long winter, the down side of our gorgeous summers. But this is why our Christmas lights go up outside at the very beginning of Advent and remain on until Twelfthnight (the end of Christmas), turned off along with the tree (which goes up on Christmas eve) for Epiphany. A bit of cheer through the gloom.

But it seems others may be feeling it too. After church I was extremely surprised to see a car with a Christmas tree strapped on top (circled in the photo). It's not even Thanksgiving yet!!!

(Speaking of trees: per a lunchtime discussion Friday I sent Fr. Davis a link to a blog post from a couple of years back, The Trees of St. Mary's. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say.)