The Year Everything Happens

No.242: December 27, 2024

Welcome to The Square Inch, a Friday newsletter on Christianity, culture, and all of the many-varied “square inches” of God’s domain. This is a paid subscription feature with a preview before the paywall. Please consider subscribing to enjoy this weekly missive along with an occasional “Off The Shelf” feature about books, a frequent Pipe & Dram feature of little monologues/conversations in my study, and Wednesday’s “The Quarter Inch,” a quick(er) commentary on current events.

Dear Friends,

Happy Third Day of Christmas! Yes, it is incumbent upon me to inform you that Christmas is not over. Do not take down that tree or the decorations. Christmas is a feast that lasts a full twelve days, ending on Epiphany, January 6th. Now, I’m not saying you have to fill up a social calendar for twelve whole days—we just finished three days of socializing and are pretty much toast. But you get to keep the eggnog and cider and Christmas cheer and movie nights going anyway!

This was our first year of being able to attend the full complement of church services, mainly because the Christmas Eve Service was scheduled for 10 p.m. The girls and I worked up some fun arrangements of Christmas music. Here’s the stream from that service if you’d like to hear some of it. My favorite songs start at 10:00, 40:00, and 50:00, but you’re welcome to watch the whole thing!

And this year we managed to get a decent family photo! (We are really poor picture takers—there won’t be too many historical artifacts of our existence after we’re gone.)

Tara and I got the older two girls their own personalized book seals (i.e., “From the Library of…”) and they are fiendishly marking their literary territory. The youngest made out like a bandit this year, too, as usual.

I was gifted six—SIX—bottles of new fountain pen ink of differing and luxurious colors. Olivia and I are essentially building a shared “library” of inks, and we are now set for a very, very long time. I’m starting out with “Distressed Leather.”

Bailey got me a really special gift. Back in 1994 the music industry had almost completely abandoned vinyl LPs in favor of CD technology, and Mary Chapin Carpenter only released her smash success “Stones in the Road” in the latter format. This year for the album’s 30th anniversary (I can’t believe I am writing that), she released a limited edition vinyl version.

I would have to say that this album had more influence on me as a musician and songwriter than any other, and it remains as fresh and powerful as it was upon its release three decades ago. Seriously, there is nothing “dated” about it. Just incredible lyricism, beautiful melodies, and outstanding musicianship. It’s a gem. The new edition also includes three never-before-released live tracks from a concert at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London in December of 1994. They are just terrific.