Olwell Family Christmas

“The Holidays” are an odd time for to be on the road alone. Driveways burst with out-of-state license plates - family caravans arriving late into the night after braving Midwestern ice and wind, the dreaded Lake effect, and gas station gourmet. Candles in the windows of neat white clapboard houses and from the car, quick glimpses of dinner tables and living rooms bathed in the comforting glow of twinkling lights, make a strange passing in the night feel quite apart from the land.

Owing to godlessness, I had no particular plans for Chanukkah nor Christmas, and I am planning to spend the New Year on a nature walk in the forest. It was my traveler’s luck then to couchsurf with Miles, a superb musician and teacher in Charlottesville, Virginia. I expected to pass through town for just a day, but he kindly invited me to spend Christmas with family and friends - the Olwells - in the quiet one street village of Scottsville, Virginia. They privileged me with warmth, kindness, and inclusion into their annual family tradition. For two days we holed away in the house of Matthew and Emily, feasting upon things home cooked and freshly killed, unhurriedly basking in great company. Music filled the air - old time clawhammer banjo, guitars, fiddle, Appalachian body percussion and Irish flute; the Olwells happened to be renowned makers of traditional Irish flutes with a six-year backlog for their work.