Christmas as Slow News Day
There is more than a little comfort and delight
when Christmas Eve slows down the news,
most of the reporters go home, after
stories are pulled from the backlog, and then
on Christmas nothing much of note happens.
The death of a minor celebrity (who was she again?)
but also the stories on tourism in Greenland
and a festooned traffic cone Christmas tree,
memorable gifts given to teachers by their students,
even the history of aluminum foil, and down the dial —
a man reading “Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry
and later the story of a heroic ghost pilot
recorded decades ago and always requested,
and the review of a few fine films, and even
the top ten lists: the bests of everything.
Even locally, a story of a tragic fire displacing families
becomes a story of generosity, of hope and joy.
Even in our family, a baby born on Christmas Day,
a couple married the day before Christmas Eve
overcome the losses of the last year.
News can stop. It can take a day or week off.
It is the annual Christmas Eve truce on the battlefield
of violence and corruption and hate and fear.
Let this time teach us anew to tell other stories,
to know our world can quiet in these short days.
