Comfort & Joy (Encore)
Our story tonight is called Comfort and Joy, and it’s a story about adding light to the dark evenings of winter. It’s also about bringing back a sweet neighborhood tradition, a Rowen tree laced with lights, and a paper chain to count down the days.
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Transcript
Speaker 1 Get more, nothing much happens, with bonus episodes, extra long stories, and ad-free listening, all while supporting the show you love. Subscribe now.
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Speaker 1 Welcome to bedtime stories for everyone,
Speaker 1 in which
Speaker 1 nothing much happens.
Speaker 1 You feel good,
Speaker 1 and then
Speaker 1 You fall asleep.
Speaker 1 I'm Catherine Nikolai.
Speaker 1 I write and read all the stories you hear on Nothing Much Happens.
Speaker 1 Audio Engineering is by Bob Wittersheim.
Speaker 1 We are bringing you an encore episode tonight, meaning that this story originally aired at some point in the past. It could have been recorded with different equipment in a different location.
Speaker 1 And since I'm a person and not a computer, computer, I sometimes sound just slightly different.
Speaker 1 But the stories are always soothing and family-friendly. And our wishes for you are always deep rest and sweet dreams.
Speaker 1 Now,
Speaker 1 since every episode is someone's first,
Speaker 1 I'd like to say a bit about how this works.
Speaker 1 I have a story to tell you.
Speaker 1 And just like the name implies, nothing much happens in it.
Speaker 1 I write the opposite of thrillers. I write soothers.
Speaker 1 And if you just follow along with the sound of my voice and the simple shape of the story,
Speaker 1 we'll capture enough of your brain's attention. to ease it into task positive mode and out of default mode, which just means you'll fall asleep.
Speaker 1 I'll tell the story twice and I'll go a little slower the second time through.
Speaker 1 If you wake in the night, don't hesitate to turn us right back on
Speaker 1 or to just think through any of the details from the story that you can remember.
Speaker 1 We're creating a conditioned response in your
Speaker 1 and it will get stronger and more reliable with time. But be patient if you're new to this.
Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called Comfort and Joy.
Speaker 1 And it's a story about adding light to the darkest evenings of winter.
Speaker 1 It's also about bringing back a sweet neighborhood tradition, a rowan tree laced with lights,
Speaker 1 and a paper chain to count down the days.
Speaker 1 Now it's time to turn off the light and to put away anything you've been playing with or looking at.
Speaker 1 Make your body as comfortable as possible
Speaker 1 and let everything
Speaker 1 relax.
Speaker 1 You have done enough for today.
Speaker 1 Truly, it is enough.
Speaker 1 Take a deep breath in through the nose
Speaker 1 and a soft sigh from your mouth.
Speaker 1 Do that one more time. Breathe in.
Speaker 1 Let it out.
Speaker 1 Good.
Speaker 1 Comfort and joy.
Speaker 1 I'd made a paper chain
Speaker 1 right after Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1 Just like the kind we'd made in elementary school
Speaker 1 to help us count down to the first day of vacation.
Speaker 1 Thick strips of red and green construction paper,
Speaker 1 curled over and daubed with a bit of Elmer's glue.
Speaker 1 It was actually
Speaker 1 quite a nice, calm project,
Speaker 1 as there was no way to do it quickly.
Speaker 1 I'd thread a new piece through the previous ring,
Speaker 1 making sure to alternate the colours,
Speaker 1 and then glue and hold it,
Speaker 1 pressed between my fingers
Speaker 1 for a few moments till it stuck,
Speaker 1 and then start again.
Speaker 1 I strung it above my kitchen sink,
Speaker 1 up and around the picture window
Speaker 1 that looks out through my side yard
Speaker 1 and down the sloping street into town.
Speaker 1 Each night before bed,
Speaker 1 after I'd wiped down the counters
Speaker 1 and set up my coffee pot for the next morning,
Speaker 1 I'd turn off the lights
Speaker 1 and look out through the window.
Speaker 1 My neighbor's house was strung with colored twinkle lights,
Speaker 1 and across the street I could see trees glowing in windows.
Speaker 1 Street lights reflected off of wet pavement and snow.
Speaker 1 And in town, cafes and shops were lit up as well.
Speaker 1 I read once that
Speaker 1 it does something to us
Speaker 1 to watch moving water.
Speaker 1 There is something primordial about it.
Speaker 1 And when we witness the tide come in,
Speaker 1 or a river rushing through the towers of a bridge,
Speaker 1 or even just a tiny stream rolling over rocks,
Speaker 1 we soften.
Speaker 1 We relax and focus.
Speaker 1 And I have always thought that it must be the same
Speaker 1 ancient parts of our brains and hearts
Speaker 1 that tell us to look for light in the winter.
Speaker 1 Twinkle lights,
Speaker 1 fireplaces,
Speaker 1 the candles on the menorah,
Speaker 1 the atmospheric glow of a bustling city street.
Speaker 1 It isn't the same effect as tides and lakes.
Speaker 1 This fills a different need.
Speaker 1 And each evening, as I looked out my window
Speaker 1 and drank up the light around me,
Speaker 1 I'd feel
Speaker 1 warmed,
Speaker 1 inspired,
Speaker 1 comforted.
Speaker 1 Then I'd reach up and tear away one link in my paper chain.
Speaker 1 I liked anticipation.
Speaker 1 Sometimes it was even better than
Speaker 1 whatever I was waiting for.
Speaker 1 And now my chain was just a few links long.
Speaker 1 They wouldn't stretch across the window any more.
Speaker 1 I'd had to take them down
Speaker 1 and set them out along the sill
Speaker 1 beside the potted sprig of jade that,
Speaker 1 just like me,
Speaker 1 had been reaching for the light lately.
Speaker 1 Looking at the last few remaining links,
Speaker 1 feeling that building anticipation,
Speaker 1 I felt the urge to do something
Speaker 1 with these last precious days of the year.
Speaker 1 It was something a friend had said to me a long time ago,
Speaker 1 a simple fact that had left a deep impression
Speaker 1 that time passes
Speaker 1 either way.
Speaker 1 It passes whether you use it or not.
Speaker 1 Time doesn't wait for you.
Speaker 1 And when I was younger,
Speaker 1 I'd sometimes interpreted that
Speaker 1 incorrectly,
Speaker 1 in a way that had something to do with how much I could get done in a day,
Speaker 1 how productive I was.
Speaker 1 I'd moved on from that.
Speaker 1 Now I realized it had to do with
Speaker 1 how many days of my life I enjoyed,
Speaker 1 how many friends I made,
Speaker 1 the quality of the time I spent,
Speaker 1 even when, or especially when, I was alone, doing simple things.
Speaker 1 So
Speaker 1 I thought about how I might spend this time
Speaker 1 about warmth and light.
Speaker 1 I laughed to myself, thinking of the old Carol.
Speaker 1 What I wanted was to bring tidings of comfort and joy.
Speaker 1 I stepped out into my garage in my slippers and began shifting boxes
Speaker 1 and looking through shelves and cubbies.
Speaker 1 Right away I found a few boxes of twinkle lights
Speaker 1 and without hesitation I got dressed in my boots and coat
Speaker 1 and started wrapping them around the tree in the center of my front yard.
Speaker 1 It was a rowan tree,
Speaker 1 fully mature,
Speaker 1 but naturally a bit smaller than the oaks and maples in the neighborhood.
Speaker 1 I wrapped the lights in tight coils up the trunk
Speaker 1 and stretched them patiently out and around a few branches.
Speaker 1 Rowan trees are sometimes called travelers' trees
Speaker 1 and are meant to help prevent those on a journey from getting lost.
Speaker 1 Well, I thought,
Speaker 1 we can all use that, can't we?
Speaker 1 Once the lights were plugged in
Speaker 1 and the tree was glowing in the yard,
Speaker 1 I went back to the garage to see what else I could find.
Speaker 1 Years ago, there had been a tradition in our neighborhood
Speaker 1 to light luminaries in long rows
Speaker 1 on the sidewalks on Christmas Eve,
Speaker 1 and for for whatever reason,
Speaker 1 it had been forgotten for a while now.
Speaker 1 I remembered my first holiday here,
Speaker 1 stepping out that night
Speaker 1 and seeing hundreds of white paper bags
Speaker 1 lit from within.
Speaker 1 It had felt like a miracle
Speaker 1 in a dusty box between my bike pump and a stack of seasoned logs for the fireplace,
Speaker 1 I found what I'd been looking for.
Speaker 1 There'd been a fundraiser at the library over the summer.
Speaker 1 They sold luminary kits with the paper bags,
Speaker 1 sand to keep them in place,
Speaker 1 and small candles set down deep in tall holders.
Speaker 1 I had forgotten about them,
Speaker 1 and I was so happy to find them now.
Speaker 1 I looked through the supplies,
Speaker 1 counting what was there,
Speaker 1 and had an idea.
Speaker 1 I waited till sunset,
Speaker 1 then loaded my kit
Speaker 1 into the back of my car and started to drive slowly through the neighborhood.
Speaker 1 I didn't have enough luminaries to line all the sidewalks.
Speaker 1 But why should not being able to do everything
Speaker 1 stop me from doing
Speaker 1 something?
Speaker 1 I parked my car at the corner and opened the hatch.
Speaker 1 I put a scoop of sand in each bag
Speaker 1 and took as many candles as I could carry
Speaker 1 and started to walk from house to house
Speaker 1 where the front walk met the sidewalk.
Speaker 1 I had settled the luminary,
Speaker 1 shaking the sand into an even layer across the bottom of the bag.
Speaker 1 Nestle the candle down into it
Speaker 1 and with a long lighter,
Speaker 1 light the wick.
Speaker 1 Just like Santa,
Speaker 1 I went from house to house,
Speaker 1 and also like Santa, I was a bit stealthy and managed not to be seen.
Speaker 1 I left one also beside a vacant lot,
Speaker 1 in front of the corner store,
Speaker 1 and at the little library, where I often hunted for a new book.
Speaker 1 The candles didn't have much wax in them.
Speaker 1 They were meant to be burned for an evening only,
Speaker 1 and I'd have to go back around tomorrow
Speaker 1 to pick them all up.
Speaker 1 But driving along the streets
Speaker 1 and seeing everyone represented in a glowing, flickering light
Speaker 1 made it all feel well worth it.
Speaker 1 People would look out
Speaker 1 as I did so often in the winter
Speaker 1 and see light
Speaker 1 and
Speaker 1 at least for a moment I hoped
Speaker 1 feel comfort and joy.
Speaker 1 Comfort and joy.
Speaker 1 I'd made a paper chain
Speaker 1 right after Thanksgiving
Speaker 1 just like the kind we'd made in elementary school
Speaker 1 to help us count down
Speaker 1 to the first day of vacation.
Speaker 1 Thick strips of red and green construction paper
Speaker 1 curled over
Speaker 1 and daubed with a bit of Elmer's glue.
Speaker 1 It was actually
Speaker 1 quite a nice, calm project,
Speaker 1 as there was no way to do it quickly.
Speaker 1 I'd thread a new piece through the previous ring,
Speaker 1 making sure to alternate the colours,
Speaker 1 and then glue and hold it, pressed between my fingers,
Speaker 1 for a few moments till it stuck,
Speaker 1 and start again.
Speaker 1 I strung it above my kitchen sink,
Speaker 1 up and around the picture window
Speaker 1 that looks out through my side yard
Speaker 1 and down the sloping street into town.
Speaker 1 Each night before bed,
Speaker 1 after I'd wiped down the counters
Speaker 1 and set up my coffee pot for the next morning,
Speaker 1 I'd turn off the lights
Speaker 1 and look out through the window.
Speaker 1 My neighbor's house was strung with colored twinkle lights
Speaker 1 And across the street
Speaker 1 I could see trees
Speaker 1 glowing in windows
Speaker 1 Street lights reflected off of wet pavement
Speaker 1 and snow
Speaker 1 And in town cafes and shops
Speaker 1 were lit up as well.
Speaker 1 I read once
Speaker 1 that
Speaker 1 it does something to us
Speaker 1 to watch moving water.
Speaker 1 There is something
Speaker 1 primordial about it.
Speaker 1 And when we witness the tide come in,
Speaker 1 or a river rushing through the towers of a bridge,
Speaker 1 or even
Speaker 1 just a tiny stream rolling over rocks.
Speaker 1 We soften.
Speaker 1 We relax and focus.
Speaker 1 And I have always thought
Speaker 1 that it must be
Speaker 1 the same ancient parts parts of our brains and hearts
Speaker 1 that tell us to look for light in the winter,
Speaker 1 twinkle lights,
Speaker 1 fireplaces,
Speaker 1 the candles on the menorah,
Speaker 1 the atmospheric glow of a bustling city street.
Speaker 1 It isn't the same effect as tides and lakes.
Speaker 1 This fills a different need.
Speaker 1 And each evening,
Speaker 1 as I looked out my window
Speaker 1 and drank up the light around me,
Speaker 1 I'd feel
Speaker 1 warmed,
Speaker 1 inspired,
Speaker 1 comforted.
Speaker 1 Then I'd reach up
Speaker 1 and tear away
Speaker 1 a link in my paper chain.
Speaker 1 I liked anticipation.
Speaker 1 Sometimes
Speaker 1 it was even better than whatever I was waiting for.
Speaker 1 And now
Speaker 1 my chain was
Speaker 1 just a few links long.
Speaker 1 They wouldn't stretch across the window anymore.
Speaker 1 I'd had to take them down
Speaker 1 and set them out along the sill
Speaker 1 beside the potted sprig of jade that,
Speaker 1 just like me,
Speaker 1 had been reaching for the light lately.
Speaker 1 Looking at the last few remaining links,
Speaker 1 feeling the building anticipation,
Speaker 1 I felt the urge to do something
Speaker 1 with these last precious days of the year.
Speaker 1 It was something a friend had said to me a long time ago.
Speaker 1 A simple fact
Speaker 1 that had left a deep impression.
Speaker 1 That time passes
Speaker 1 either way.
Speaker 1 And it passes whether you use it or not.
Speaker 1 Time doesn't wait for you.
Speaker 1 And when I was younger,
Speaker 1 I'd sometimes interpreted that
Speaker 1 incorrectly
Speaker 1 in a way that had
Speaker 1 everything to do with
Speaker 1 how much I could get done in a day,
Speaker 1 how productive I was.
Speaker 1 I'd moved on from that now.
Speaker 1 Now I realized it had to do with
Speaker 1 how many days of my life I enjoyed,
Speaker 1 how many friends I made,
Speaker 1 and the quality of the time I spent,
Speaker 1 even when, or
Speaker 1 especially when,
Speaker 1 I was alone
Speaker 1 and doing simple things.
Speaker 1 So I thought about how I might spend this time
Speaker 1 about warmth and light.
Speaker 1 And I laughed to myself
Speaker 1 thinking of the old Carol.
Speaker 1 What I wanted was to bring tidings of comfort and joy.
Speaker 1 I stepped out into my garage in my slippers and began shifting boxes
Speaker 1 and looking through shelves and cubbies.
Speaker 1 Right away I found a few boxes of twinkle lights
Speaker 1 and without hesitation
Speaker 1 I got dressed in my boots and coat
Speaker 1 and started wrapping them
Speaker 1 around the tree in the center of my front yard.
Speaker 1 It was a rowan tree,
Speaker 1 fully mature, but
Speaker 1 naturally a bit smaller than the oaks and maples in the neighborhood.
Speaker 1 I wrapped the lights in tight coils up the trunk
Speaker 1 and stretched them patiently
Speaker 1 out
Speaker 1 and around a few branches.
Speaker 1 Rowan trees are sometimes called travelers' trees
Speaker 1 and are meant to help prevent those on a journey from getting lost.
Speaker 1 Well, I thought
Speaker 1 we can all use that, can't we?
Speaker 1 Once the lights were plugged in
Speaker 1 and the tree was glowing in the yard,
Speaker 1 I went back to the garage
Speaker 1 to see what else I could find.
Speaker 1 Years ago, there had been a tradition in our neighborhood
Speaker 1 to light luminaries
Speaker 1 in long rows
Speaker 1 on the sidewalks on Christmas Eve.
Speaker 1 And
Speaker 1 for
Speaker 1 whatever reason,
Speaker 1 it had been forgotten for a while now.
Speaker 1 I remembered my first holiday here,
Speaker 1 stepping out that night
Speaker 1 and seeing hundreds of white paper bags
Speaker 1 lit from within.
Speaker 1 It had felt like a miracle.
Speaker 1 In a dusty box
Speaker 1 between my bike pump and a stack of seasoned logs for the fireplace,
Speaker 1 I found what I had been looking for.
Speaker 1 There had been a fundraiser at the library over the summer.
Speaker 1 They sold luminary kits with the paper bags,
Speaker 1 sand to keep them in place,
Speaker 1 and tiny candles
Speaker 1 set down deep in tall holders.
Speaker 1 I'd forgotten all about them and was so happy to find them now.
Speaker 1 I looked through the supplies,
Speaker 1 counting what was there
Speaker 1 and had an idea.
Speaker 1 I waited till the sun set,
Speaker 1 then loaded my kit into the back of my car
Speaker 1 and started to drive slowly through the neighborhood.
Speaker 1 I didn't have enough luminaries to line all the sidewalks.
Speaker 1 But
Speaker 1 why should not being able to do everything
Speaker 1 stop me from doing something?
Speaker 1 I parked my car at a corner and opened the hatch.
Speaker 1 I put a scoop of sand in each bag
Speaker 1 and took as many candles as I could carry
Speaker 1 and started to walk from house to house,
Speaker 1 where each front walk met the sidewalk,
Speaker 1 I'd settle a luminary,
Speaker 1 shaking the sand
Speaker 1 into an even layer across the bottom of the bag.
Speaker 1 Nestle the candle down into it,
Speaker 1 and with a long lighter, light the wick.
Speaker 1 Just like Santa, I went from one house to the next,
Speaker 1 and also like Santa, I was a bit stealthy
Speaker 1 and managed not to be seen.
Speaker 1 I left one beside a vacant lot in front of the corner store,
Speaker 1 and at the little library where I often hunted for a new new book.
Speaker 1 The candles didn't have much wax in them.
Speaker 1 They were meant to be burned for an evening only.
Speaker 1 And I'd have to go back around tomorrow to pick them all up.
Speaker 1 But driving along the streets
Speaker 1 and
Speaker 1 seeing everyone represented
Speaker 1 in a glowing, flickering light
Speaker 1 made it all feel well worth it.
Speaker 1 People would look out,
Speaker 1 as I did so often in the winter,
Speaker 1 and see light,
Speaker 1 and at least for a moment, I hoped,
Speaker 1 feel
Speaker 1 comfort
Speaker 1 and joy.
Speaker 1 Sweet dreams.
