Christmas Eve Greetings with Photos

Camellia blooming beside our porch as Christmas nears.

This Christmas eve, sending good wishes to all Bilgrimage readers of any or no religious persuasions — with a few photos:

Christmas tree and mistletoe.

Our crèches from around the world with candles on Christmas eve.

Carved rosewood Christ child from Indonesian crèche.

Mexican crèche in bird's nest we found last year.

Another (amusing) Mexican crèche.

Steve enjoying sip of wine as we open presents.

And thinking, as I post these photos, of many people who are alone at holiday times, and feel all the more isolated because others are celebrating a holiday — a particular issue in the LGBT community, where so many of us have not had the support of our families. May more love, more peace, and more justice visit the world in which we live as Hannukah gives way to the winter solstice to the celebration of Mohammed's birthday to Christmas. Surely there is room in the world for all of us to live together harmoniously, and to celebrate the magnificent differences in our cultures and worldviews that have the potential to make our world such a rich place, rather than to divide us.