The season of Christmas has always been family time for us. Today is my father’s birthday. Although he died 44 years ago, the day still brings me wonderful memories of sledding, winter touring Yellowstone National Park, swimming in hot springs, cross-country skiing, digging tunnels in snow drifts, and countless other adventures. There was always a bit of end of the year rush after Christmas with my father’s business. Inventory had to be completed. There were a few customers who needed to complete big purchases before the end of the year to make their tax computations work out. But father always had a more relaxed mood and was ready to take time off from work for fun. There always was a special cake baked by our mother. Dad’s favorite was German chocolate. There were usually plenty of pecans from Koinonia Farms. My folks ordered pecans for gifts each year and there were always enough for holiday pies and cakes at our house. We kids had pretty much tapped out our bank accounts with Christmas spending, so dad’s birthday was generally a low budget affair. I often saved enough to buy a box or a bag of candy, knowing that as soon as the gift was opened, it would be shared. Dad loved outdoor play and whether it was an old car hood towed behind a jeep or a snowmobile, he was attracted to ways to play in the snow. One winter he and the mechanics in his shop built a snow vehicle from scratch that operated with homemade tracks employing hardwood cleats, powered by a Wisconsin motor salvaged from a hay baler. It was good enough to make the trips up the mountain to measure snow depths for the Forest Service that winter.

When our children came into our lives the days after Christmas were always special family times. As pastors there was a lot of activity building up to Christmas Eve services, followed by a quiet Christmas and often a week during which there were very few demands on us as pastors. Many years we took a week’s vacation following Christmas Day. Sometimes we’d get in a skiing trip and often we’d make family visits. We continued the tradition of outdoor play with plenty of sledding and winter sightseeing.

Yesterday we continued our family celebration by traveling down to Skagit County to Mount Vernon with the three oldest of our grandchildren. We met their father for a pizza lunch and then the girls went with grandma to paint pottery at a local ceramics shop. My grandson, son, and I walked back to the Library Commons where our son is the director. While he took care of his work, his son headed off to the teen space in the library and I settled into a comfortable chair with a collection of short stories.

The Mount Vernon Library Commons is a brand new building that began to open to the public in October as construction completed. The library expanded from 12,500 square feet to more than 30,000 square feet, not counting the three floors of parking, including 76 EV chargers, located above. It contains study rooms, a new teen room with a makerspace, a conference room and commercial kitchen, and a greatly expanded children’s area with multiple play spaces.

In the teen room there is a large television with gaming consoles and video games that have been carefully chosen to encourage group play. When we first arrived our thirteen year old grandson headed to the space saying he wanted to sit in a comfortable chair. At first he was the only one in the video game area and I saw him scrolling through the game menu. When I checked back later he was playing Minecraft with another teen while several others were drawing and reading at a nearby table. A while later, I counted nine youths in the space. Four were playing at the video consoles, one was using one of the 3D printers, another was reading in a comfortable chair. More were gathered around a table.

On the drive home our grandson told us that he had had a great day. He doesn’t live in Mount Vernon and had not previously met any of the other teens, but the space made it easy for him to connect with them. Based on one afternoon’s observation, I was delighted how the library has quickly become a gathering place. One of the goals of the new building was to create a safe and welcoming environment for teens in a small town that doesn’t have many spaces dedicated to teens outside of the schools.

There is a lot to worry about for parents and grandparents of teens. These are vulnerable years. Human bodies rapidly maturing with skills expanding while brains are still developing. Teens need access to technology in a rapidly changing world. They need to have access to the Internet in order to conduct research and connect, but the Internet is a risk-filled environment. Cyberbullying wreaks devastating results. Predators lurk and lure with lies and promises. While video games teach skills later useful in such widely varied occupations as drone piloting and robotic surgery, they often can be isolating for teens who can play for years without ever meeting other players face to face.

The recent gut-wrenching tragedy of the death of actor Hudson Meek, who died at age 16 after falling from a moving vehicle is a stark reminder that teens are faced with decisions that have permanent consequences. As our hearts go out to family and friends we are motivated to draw the teens in our lives closer and to do what we are able to protect them. Navigating the journey from childhood to adulthood, however, requires increased freedom and trust. We can’t raise our children by smothering them.

As the year draws to its end, I am grateful for the expansive vision of the Mount Vernon Library Commons Project and the dedication of library staff to creating safe space for teens to gather, to play games face-to-face, to engage emerging technologies in creative ways. May it be a model for other communities for years to come.