THE COLD SOLSTICE

The seasons change, and winter comes to the hilltop where I live. There's a dusting of snow on the ground, and flurries falling. There's a fire in the fireplace.

The trees are without leaves, and the forest is smaller though the view is larger; you can see out the other side. It's just a hundred-acre wood, after all.

Last week we walked the dogs, the Mrs., the kids and I. Before the snow had covered the ground. An early morning with frost; rime edged every individual leaf, froze them into solid chips of burnt gold. Infinite detail; amazing artistry. So good to have a family together this time of year, so far from home, where so many do not.

Later that day we saw The Return of the King. (Note: there are no spoilers in the discussion ahead.) Our local theater had it in English on at least two screens and Deutsch on others. We braved the opening day crowd and experienced no disappointment in the movie, of course. Except, perhaps, it was too short. Why make us all wait for the extended version? The others were understandable. No one would have released the first movie in its uncut glory; too risky. Whether to renew interest and fill gaps just before the release of the subsequent episode or just to maximize profit, the first two extended versions were in my opinion the best use yet of the DVD medium. I suppose fiscal concerns of theater owners must trump fan desires in this case, so we wait another many months for the real final installment in the series. So be it; everyone involved certainly deserves the profits they'll take.

I went to the movie with pure enjoyment as my goal, but I couldn't deny a desire to see if a theme from the first two movies would carry through to the third. An amazing connection to events of the day, a line of dialogue to resonate within my mind as amazingly applicable to current events. Fellowship when Gandalf discusses fate with Frodo: We don't choose the times in which we are born. So soon after 911. Towers, Wormtongue's words to Théoden: Do not listen to these warmongers! As the very situation played out in the real world.

Then in Return: Aragorn at the gates of Mordor calls out the dark leader of the dark lands. Where is he? Send him out! I cringe at the all too obvious analogy.

Tolkien himself is said to have hated analogy and denied any existed in his work. I suppose there's the truth at the core of the success of this epic; good vs. evil, persevere against odds to ultimate (though not inevitable) triumph; a story that transcends specific examples and thus encompasses so many.

On that topic of persevere against odds I note the passing of two anniversaries. Nearly sixty years ago a very few miles from here Americans withstood the final German counter attack of WWII. If you haven't seen Band of Brothers yet, if you haven't seen the postscript, where a legless man stands on crutches at the edge of the woods and surveys the land he made free, then you should. There was a commemoration of that battle held this past weekend. I'd have liked to have been there. Survivors from both sides, along with citizens of all nations, walk the battle lines and remember, or imagine. I'd have liked to have done that; to have felt a hint of that cold they felt. To have wondered at how they could have endured that cold with mortar rounds and shrapnel raining down among them.

And a couple weeks and 53 years ago, the First Marine Division and the Army's 7th Infantry Division battled out from Chosin, fought free from 120,000 Chinese soldiers and lived to fight another day. (At least those with all their fingers and toes intact. Frostbite is an unforgiving foe.) If you're not familiar with America's war with China you can start learning here. Then here and here. If there's a commemorative event at Chosin then no Americans will be taking part. There will be no joining of old enemies in peaceful times.

This year.

And speaking of this year, I see out the window the snow is about an inch deep now. And it's cold. And I'm inside with a fire. And the wife and the kids and the dogs.

And my daughter has a friend over. And that friend's dad will spend Christmas in Iraq. And her mom, here in Germany, has not decorated their house this year. Not even a tree.

I missed the Bastogne event because I was working this past weekend. And I'll miss about 10 hours of Christmas with my family for the same reason. We're 24/7/365 at my shop. And I'm not complaining.

Who knows what next year will bring?