God rest you merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay.

I love this Christmas song. . . partly because of the comma in the first line. Weird, I know. But “God rest you, merry gentleman,” would mean something very different than “God rest you merry, gentlemen.”

It’s a distinction worth considering in this final week before Christmas day. You don’t have to come to the party merry. But here’s hoping that the holiday, and its lovely markets, its light, its lifting of family, food, and beauty, will help you to find that balance point of energy and rest, of calm and excitement, and to feel rested merry.

I know that a day in Trier left me feeling that I had rested merry. And it is a good feeling.