Since the Middle Ages, dark interior walls of stone cathedrals have been animated by the communion of light and colour on jewel-toned windows of stained glass.

People travelled for days to read brightly illuminated stories imprinted on stained glass, stories created to teach and delight: the liturgical canon, local history, political leanings, arts and science, the zodiac. It must have been magical. Light transforming brilliance to provide solace and salvation, beauty and inspiration.

As it does today, still. When wandering the hustle and bustle of a big city for too many hours, there is solace in slipping into the quiet of a camphor-scented pew and gazing upward to the luminescence of stained glass. In a mountain monastery, there is inspiration in a kaleidoscope of colour alighting on a marble floor, inviting your mind to wander among subtly changing patterns. Unconfined to the ecclesial, there is beauty in the artful compositions on stained glass filtering sunlight through music halls and grand hotels.

No matter if or how you celebrate it, Christmas is a metaphor for light. And so, we share with you, a collage of stained glass windows from our travels. Accompanying it are the solemn strings of a violin in an instrumental rendition of “I Wonder as I Wander” played by the inimitable Karl Roth, a man whose music meant so much to us during our years in Calgary. Have a wonderful holiday season.