My Top 10 Astonishments of the Season

I am languishing on a hotel bed in Anchorage as I write this. (Just flew up for bone grafting surgery on my jaw.) Lying here with puffy face and thoughts of Christmas. How do we redeem the season? Is wonder still possible? I wrestle for wonder every holiday season. And thanks to my confinement, I was able to indulge. Here they are, then, from the profane to the profound, 10 ways I have found astonishment this season. 


10. At the bottom of the list, the commercially astonishing, or at least amusing. Who knows, maybe one of these will show up under your tree this year.  What I want to know is---what do you say when you receive gifts like these?

The Latest Must-Have for Cozy-seekers: Sleeping Bag with Legs

 The Ultimate Onesie?

                            

    Have you milk and cookies too . ..




















And--the ever-popular Subway Nap Stand . ..

                                           

9. Then, there are those gifts that astonish for their price tag, ever-expanding our capacity for decadence: 


The Victoria Secret Fantasy Bra series, always sprung at Christmas. This year's offering: 2 $2 million bras  set in 18-karat gold and boast diamonds, rubies and various shades of blue sapphires. Yes, just what the world needs . . . 

Everyone needs a good pair of sunglasses to protect their eyes. How about these from Dolce and Gabbana for the mere price of $383,000? (Solid gold frames, of course)

And, we all love our dogs, so this Christmas, why not buy a little something for your sweet pooch? Here it is:  a 3.2 million dollar "masterpiece" dog collar, featuring 1600 diamonds and a 7 carat centerpiece.

8. The astonishment of Joy visiting Vanity Fair. Yes, it's a bit cliched by now, but who can resist this meme: tired, glassy-eyed shoppers in a fancy mall filling their bags with stuff they can't afford suddenly awakened by a singer, then two, then 50 all dancing and singing with real joy about the coming of a child to rescue us.  


One of my favorite Christmas Flash Mobs



7. The music that astonishes. Some of my new favorites:


"I Need a Silent Night," by Amy Grant

Cloverton's Hallelujah

Pentatonix "Mary, Did You Know?"

6. The Astonishing Kindness of Strangers:   

"Angel" Quietly Donates $50,000 to a Pennsylvania Walmart to pay off all Layaways

Rings Dropped in Salvation Army Kettle Buy $21,000 of Toys for Needy Kids

Homeless Man Offers Woman his Last Bit of Change for Her to Get Home Safely

5. The astonishment that God in his infinite swirling galaxies and nebula, very God of every atom and sun and comet, dwelling in happiest of joys with his Son and the Spirit, decided to change 'hoods to come camp out with his bitty creatures, us. That God Above Us would become God-With-Us. 

4. Even more, that God Above us would dress in newborn flesh to be God-with-us, Immanuel, even knowing most would reject Him.  

3. That God-with-us would stay with us, despite our parade of follies, our idols, our wars, our paltry faith and our destroying self-loves and hatreds.

2. That God-with-us should come yet nearer, closer, dearer: straight into our hearts, Christ-within-us!   And HOW does this happen! The wonder of all wonders,



1.  The astonishment of the stable

Let the Stable Still Astonish

Let the stable still astonish:

Straw-dirt floor, dull eyes,

Dusty flanks of donkeys, oxen;

Crumbling, crooked walls;

No bed to carry that pain,

And then, the child,

Rag-wrapped, laid to cry

In a trough.

Who would have chosen this?

Who would have said: "Yes,

Let the God of all the heavens and earth

be born here, in this place." ?

Who but the same God

Who stands in the darker, fouler rooms of our hearts

and says, "Yes, let the God 

of Heaven and Earth 

be born here ----

         in this place."

                                         -----Leslie Leyland Fields

Hallelujah! Let Wonder and Astonishment be birthed again this season.  With SO much gratitude for all of you, Leslie