Winter Holiday Season

I used to hate it when people called
winter holiday time "the holiday season"
as if no other season or cycle of holidays
counted or even existed. Now I see beauty
in this holiday season, which begins in thanks
giving, abides lengthening nights, shortening days,
honors expected return of the sun, making
a festival of lights, honoring hope for us all
in the birth of a babe, and concluding as
we begin a new cycle with resolution.

Victoria Hendricks - December 22 - 2008