Silently, they peered from the south-facing front yard.
I saw them peeking over cars.
Reverent, beautiful, cold.
 
Sisters, swinging wildly through the mid-winter air, late afternoon shadows, cast long and blue.
Giggling, shrieking, oblivious to all but one another.
 
Taking in the scene before them,
I looked again--
What are they seeing?
 
And there it was—
Joy embodied,
Announcing with their love for one another:
God is with Us!
 
And the angels smiled on.

This morning I read:

A gathering of angels is a clear and unmistakable sign of God’s presence and his favor…The Gospels tell the Christmas story in historical terms. The book of Revelation tells it in symbols. But neither the Gospels nor the Apocalypse can tell the story truthfully without angels. It is angels who sing Gloria. It is angels who announce the joy.

 Joy to the World: How Christ’s Coming Changed Everything (and still does), Scott Hahn.

Perhaps it makes sense that I noticed the antique, plastic, pair of angels that has graced this front yard for many Christmases; their precise arrangement, a perfect vantage point for watching shenanigans at the park. Two days before Christmas I caught a glimpse of what the angels came to announce, what they have been telling us all of Advent—God is with us.

God is with us in plain sight.