Long ago, before I knew better, I thought Christmas magic was a bulging stocking or the biggest gift under the tree. With age comes new perspective, though, and I feel blessed to now recognize and appreciate Christmas magic in less materialistic ways. A full moon on Christmas is a rare thing. The last one occurred in 1977…the next will be in 2034. I thought this 2015 Christmas moon was only going to be something I read about, as it’s been raining here for days, and the forecast still calls for low, thick clouds and an 80% chance of thunderstorms. Yet a bit of Christmas magic has occurred, and the clouds thinned enough around midnight for me to capture the above image with my iPhone. More magic–notice how the tree branches make the round orb of the moon look like a star? And even more magic–the perfect halo surrounding the moon is caused by tiny ice crystals in the high, thin cirrus clouds that still remain, not by some trick of the camera lens.
Things I See and Know 