...Where the Treetops Glisten...

Injustice can be eliminated, but human conflicts and natural limitations cannot be removed. The conflicts ... cannot be controlled or transcended. They can, however, be endured and survived. It is possible for there to be a dance with life, a creative response to its intrinsic limits and challenges ...

[Sharon Welch, A Feminist Ethic of Risk]

Here in the Chihuahua Desert, Christmas presents a different face from its holiday song and the winter carol image. December here is dry and mild. No snow. No sleighs.

Trees, when nurtured, can grow in our sandy soil. But there are almost no traditional evergreen trees in our yards.

We celebrate the season, nevertheless.

One humble home in Central El Paso displays a creative response to annual seasonal decorating, even starting before Thanksgiving each year. The branches of its front yard tree glisten in the Sun City's daylight beams, catching the sun with sparkle and color that is reflected from an array of ordinary cans...something others might merely discard.

By night, the branches' twinkling lights illuminate the yard.

Life will never be without challenges, conflicts, and limitations. But we can always choose our

response, making the most of what we have with

creativity and joy.

And maybe that is a message of the season.