Advent

I’ve always found it funny that Joni Mitchell’s “River” became a Christmas standard. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lovely…

When I hear “Joy to World,” I always think of birdsong. It’s the line “and heaven and nature sing” that…

The beginning of Christmas is a silent night. It’s the part of the story where we hold our breath as…

I move swiftly through the slick and winter-frozen Cambridge streets. It’s dark, but I know these sidewalks well: their red…

For 37 weeks — and, really, for a couple of years before that — my husband and I waited. Not…

Oftentimes, when we employ our prayerful imagination in considering the Nativity story, we perceive the depth of emotion within Mary…

I’ll admit, it’s a bit of an odd choice for a child’s favorite Christmas song. There are no cheery jingle…

When I was a freshman in college, I was overwhelmingly homesick. I’d moved across the country with barely a backwards…

For an Advent song, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is surprisingly somber, especially at the start. It doesn’t sparkle —…

Jesus Christ would have been an abject failure on “Shark Tank.” You can picture the scene: Standing before the sharks,…

In the Bing Crosby soundtrack of my childhood, “The Littlest Angel” was a Christmas favorite. It tells of a 4-year-old…

As Catholic Christians, we hold pretty big and bold ideas and names for Mary. She is the Mother of God,…