Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories . . . and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.”
— Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of Little House on the Prairie

In “The Alphabet of Spiritual Literacy,” W is for Wonder. And, for many of us, Christmas is the Season of Wonder: pageants and angels and stars and potluck dinners and knitted scarves fresh off the needles. Mesmerized by twinkling lights and Advent candles piercing the darkness, it would seem that wonder just happens, descending like the Angel Gabriel, announcing good tidings.

But hold on. For the introvert, Christmas heralds a nightmare of multiple social events packed into a short space of time. For the financially strapped, the pressure to buy presents that one can ill afford creates anxiety. . . (read more)