5 Cold Places and the People Who Live There: Christmas Daybook, 5
My Christmas daybook for these 12 days of celebrating. We'll be spending Christmastide with some favorite short films and video clips. Join me, won't you?
Watch: Pour a mug of hot tea and wrap up in a blanket in front of the fire for today’s collection of clips featuring the coldest places on earth and the people who live there!
Living on Ice (North Pole)
A Very Short Guide to Union Glacier Camp (West Antarctica; longer documentary)
Warmest Tent on Earth (Siberian Arctic)
One Day In the Coldest Village on Earth (Yakutia, Russia; shorter documentary)
Snowiest City in the World (Aomari, Japan)
Read: Psalm 18; Isaiah 12:1-6; Revelation 1:1-8; John 7:37-52
Pray: A Blessing of the Hearthfire
May the comfort and fellowship of this hearth be so kindled in our own hearts, O Lord, that as we journey outward from this place, even in seasons of cold and darkness, we will do so always carrying the warmth of your love, and the light of your mercies.
—excerpted from Every Moment Holy, Douglas McKelvey
Do: Follow light like the journeying magi.
Find every possible way to savor the beauty of light during the darkest time of the year. Light candles, build a fire, sit in the dark and look at your lit tree, visit a holiday light show in town, take a bath by candlelight, go outside and look at the stars.
Playlists for Christmas
Christmas Eve (for my Momma): The quirky, sometimes kitschy, a little bit emo, and often melancholy playlist I made when we lived so far away from my parents. Now we live far away from other people we love, but the title of the playlist will remain in honor of those first homesick years.
Ring the Bells: A bit more traditional playlist (but still highlighting the lesser-known music of the season).
All 12 Days: A playlist for a festive and full Christmastide:
*Sunday Scripture readings are taken from Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary. Daily Scripture readings are taken from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and include Morning and Evening Psalms (Year 1).