1. God
2. Putting up the tree
3. Cassie’s greens on the fence, wreaths on the gate and the door, the samovar full of holly and boxwood, the decorated mantelpieces, even the mistletoe in the French doors (which don’t open so maybe/because they don’t speak French.)
4. My father talking about his mother taking him to the good hotel in town for a haircut. He wasn’t sure why they stopped going nor did I learn more about the hotel or his experience, but I don’t think it was like the hotel in Martin Dressler.
5. Arctic air punctuated by a momentary thaw.
6. People whom I will never know and from whose work I benefit
7. Even this language which I don’t fully understand or what I’m seeing and hearing which others see differently
8. as we are
9. Spirits rejoice