RSS Feed

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2021 by ivonprefontaine

It has been awhile since I posted. I offer this poem I wrote several years ago.

At Christmas last year, I read an essay by Parker Palmer on On Being that reminds me the miracle of Christmas and the incarnation of God in human form. It reminded me how, as a child growing up in Northern Alberta, Christmas was a time of wonder I could not explain and try not to as a rational adult.

At about the same time, Parker posted on Facebook about an event he experienced the previous year in Nogales Mexico at a house for asylum seekers. Asylum is another way of saying they were seeking refuge. He points out Jesus was likely a person of colour. He was a born into the Jewish faith. In this sense, his birth is an ecumenical event.

Carpenter guiding the way,

Expectant mother riding,

Backs straight; heads held high–

Donkey serving as regal carriage.

Seeking refuge from the night–

Giving birth in a stable,

Swathed and cradled in a manger,

Beasts welcoming the child.

Showering gifts upon us–

Returning each year,

Lighting the way–

Only asking, “Can you open your hearts?”

Source of strength,

Our turn to humbly receive gifts,

Restocking spirits,

Rejuvenating souls.

For several years, Kathy and I enjoyed Canadian singer and actor Tom Jackson. In pre-Covid times, he toured at Christmas to help food banks. In the midst of Covid, we each have to find ways to share with those in need.

He does a lovely rendition of Huron Carole, which I share below. Again, this points to an ecumenical nature of Christmas, Christ’s Mass, echoing Parker’s remembrance of “the story, the music, the candlelight, the scent of pine, the silent night, the warm presence of family and friends.”

For me, it is also food and opening a present on Christmas Eve. The food included traditional French-Canadian tourtière (meat pie), which Kathy and I continue to share with our children and grandchildren.

Advertisement

56 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

About ivonprefontaine

In keeping with bell hooks and Noam Chomsky, I consider myself a public and dissident intellectual. Part of my work is to move beyond (transcend) institutional dogmas that bind me to defend freedom, raising my voice to be heard on behalf of those who seek equity and justice in all their forms. I completed my PhD in Philosophy of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA. My dissertation and research was how teachers experience becoming teachers and their role as leaders. I focus on leading, communicating, and innovating in organizations. This includes mindfuful servant-leadership, World Cafe events, Appreciative Inquiry, and expressing one's self through creativity. I offer retreats, workshops, and presentations that can be tailored to your organzations specific needs. I published peer reviewed articles about schools as learning organizations, currere as an ethical pursuit, and hope as an essential element of adult eductaion. I published three poems and am currently preparing my poetry to publish as an anthology of poetry. I present on mindful leadership, servant leadership, schools as learning organizations, how teachers experience becoming teachers, assessement, and critical thinking. I facilitate mindfulness, hospitality retreats. and World Cafe Events using Appreciative Inquiry. I am writing and researching about various forms of leadership, how teachers inform and form their identity as a particular teacher, schools as learning organizations, hope and its anticipatory relationship with the future, and hope as an essential element in learning.

56 responses »

  2. cindy knoke | December 24, 2021 at 8:41 pm

    Happy Holidays Ivon to you and your Family!
    ◽◽🌟
    ◽◽🎄
    ◽ 🎄🎄
    ◽🎄⁣🎄🎄
    🎄🎄🎄🎄
    🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄
    ◽🎁🎁🎁

    Reply
  3. Carrie Cannady | December 24, 2021 at 8:45 pm

    Merry Christmas, Ivon. I hope we will see more of you in the new year. Be well.

    Reply
    • ivonprefontaine | December 24, 2021 at 9:24 pm

      Thank you Carrie. Have a wonderful Christmas and a lovely New Year. I am planning on blogging more. I have to figure out how to do more with less.

      Reply
      • Carrie Cannady | December 24, 2021 at 9:26 pm

        Blessings to you and your family, Ivon. I’m a believer that if it is to be, a way will be found or will otherwise unfold. We need only be patient while taking one step at a time in our daily walk. Be well, Ivon.

  4. sloppy buddhist | December 24, 2021 at 9:08 pm

    Happy holidays and merry Christmas dear Ivon 🎄⭐️🕊🤍peace and light hedy🤍

    Reply
  7. Newbloggycat | December 25, 2021 at 12:35 am

    Merry Christmas to you and yours, Ivon! 🎄⛄️🦌🍷

    Reply
  9. leggypeggy | December 25, 2021 at 4:31 am

    A beautiful poem and perfect for the day. Merry Christmas.

    Reply
  11. diespringerin | December 25, 2021 at 7:34 am

    Have a very Merry Christmas!

    Reply
  12. etinkerbell | December 25, 2021 at 7:37 am

    Merry Christmas to you and your family!

    Reply
  14. SoundEagle 🦅ೋღஜஇ | December 25, 2021 at 11:55 am

    Dear Ivon,

    Thank you. I have just published a new and special post entitled “🎊 Season’s Greetings: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year 🎄🎅☃️” to celebrate the festive season. The post combines art, graphics, poems, music and animations. May you enjoy my new post to your heart’s content!

    Wishing you a 🎄🎊 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ☃️🎅!

    Wishing you and your family a wonderfully productive weekend doing or enjoying whatever that satisfies you the most! Take care and prosper!

    Yours sincerely,
    SoundEagle

    Reply
  15. Patricia Pilcher | December 26, 2021 at 3:43 am

    Dear Ivon and Kathy, I hope your Christmas has been rich in fellowship and meaning as you sent time with your family. Hopefully, our world begins healing in the coming year. All the best to both of you. Trish

    >

    Reply
  16. Anita | December 27, 2021 at 11:11 am

    Merry Christmas and happy holidays dear.

    Reply
  18. AKwafrigeria | December 27, 2021 at 11:39 pm

    It’s beautiful, the poem 🥰

    Reply
  19. Angel | December 29, 2021 at 3:34 pm

    I will be adding more poems, just started this podcast. So come and listen and watch me grow. If you like poetry this is perfect for you. https://anchor.fm/introvertedpoetess

    Reply
  21. inavukic | December 31, 2021 at 12:17 pm

    Wishing you much joy in the New Year!

    Reply
  22. Jonathan Caswell | May 3, 2022 at 7:09 pm

    Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
    ANY DAY CAN BE CHRISTMAS! IN OUR HEARTS!

    Reply
  23. Shrubaboti | June 8, 2022 at 5:39 am

    Maybe I’m a little late, but I wanted to tell you that I took up teaching since the last year and have been enjoying it so much. You are one of my first teacher bloggers that I had followed on WordPress, thanks for sharing your wonderful poetry and simple but wholesome encounters with children. 🤗💜

    Reply
  24. Julio Jiménez | December 22, 2022 at 4:23 pm

    i wish you a merry christmas

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: