Oh, where to start? It's late at night and I SHOULD be heading to bed. Yet I am looking forward to Sarah, Maureen, and our Swell Dames call tomorrow with gratitude. Yes, we have endured the pandemic. How can something so horrific bring BLESSINGS? There is much I can write about on this topic.
For me, the last few years have been a time to reconnect with what I truly want in life, what is important to me, a time to reflect on how I got to where I am - literally and figuratively! As I have shared, there has been a series of friends who have died. These events continue. With the grief comes an insatiable drive to reconnect with friends. The pandemic brought an unusual friend - technology! Now I can comfortably see friends in their home the way we live in our homes. I personally love receiving cards and letters in the mail instead of an email. (Oh, that's right, I need to call EMAILS a BLESSING! We need to talk about that Sarah!) I’m writing and sending notes and cards.
Let me come to the point. Life has changed. There is no normal. This is the first year in 54 years I will not be spending Christmas with my daughter. It's sad, yet there are many logical and emotional reasons for it. She and her family are growing, moving, changing. Thanksgiving dinner was the first time in 60+ years that I haven't been the one fixing it. There were many things about the meal that didn't work for me, but I wasn't exhausted for a week afterwards. I suspect Christmas will bring the same blessing.
For the first time in my life I have finished my Christmas shopping, wrapping, and trying to make Christmas PERFECT! This insanity often took me through Christmas morning when, with less than 3 hours before the kids were up, those packages I had just wrapped were opened. WHY?!!!! Why did I do that? Oh, there’s a rabbit hole I could go down!
AND IT'S 12 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!! What will I do with all this extra time?
Oh, yes! I can walk in nature. I can continue to call and write friends just to catch up. I can listen to seasonal music, sit by the fire, talk with my husband and cozy up with my cat on my lap while sitting by a fire without worrying if I will be able to get everything done. I've even gone through boxes of perfectly good clothing that actually still fit me, yet I'm giving it to charities who will pass it on to others who truly need the items. I have enough.
Actually, I have more than enough! It feels so good to give and give and give some more. It's making room for me to breath in the pine, spices, and other smells of season; to look at the lights & decorations with the delight of a child; to think of others instead of myself and to help them; (I gave of my time to hold 4 of my Clutter Buster sessions to encourage others to go through, get rid of, organize, and give to others - lots of women took me up on it, I feel wonderful about it as do they plus still more clothes went to people who need them!)
There's time to sit, be with myself & my thoughts, remember the good times and know that the bad times helped me grow to be the person I am today. There's time to think about the new traditions I want to start. It's less decorating and doing. It's more silence, peace, & calm.
Yes, Sarah, December's gifts are knowing about customs that I can either choose to follow or not. It is about ceremony - creating those that speak to my heart & Soul. It is celebrating that I am alive and healthy and those closest to me are also. And it is a consecration of the sacred - my home, my life, and all that the Divine has created. Yes, I feel your personal blanket of comfort and contentment wrapped around me. May it expand to the many souls who desire these qualities in their lives! May we all learn to call what we first perceive as problems to be gifts and blessings. After all, isn't that also what this season is about?
I have to admit, i am finding it difficult to see blessings right now. I was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This is particularly shocking because I'm 37, in good health, and have no family history of such cancer. I also have a 4 year old son, which makes my potential prognosis all the more devastating.
I love Christmas so much, and am trying to enjoy the small moments I can in between treatments and pain. Sarah, keep it coming; your musings are needed even more right now than I could have dreamed when I signed up last January.
Oh, where to start? It's late at night and I SHOULD be heading to bed. Yet I am looking forward to Sarah, Maureen, and our Swell Dames call tomorrow with gratitude. Yes, we have endured the pandemic. How can something so horrific bring BLESSINGS? There is much I can write about on this topic.
For me, the last few years have been a time to reconnect with what I truly want in life, what is important to me, a time to reflect on how I got to where I am - literally and figuratively! As I have shared, there has been a series of friends who have died. These events continue. With the grief comes an insatiable drive to reconnect with friends. The pandemic brought an unusual friend - technology! Now I can comfortably see friends in their home the way we live in our homes. I personally love receiving cards and letters in the mail instead of an email. (Oh, that's right, I need to call EMAILS a BLESSING! We need to talk about that Sarah!) I’m writing and sending notes and cards.
Let me come to the point. Life has changed. There is no normal. This is the first year in 54 years I will not be spending Christmas with my daughter. It's sad, yet there are many logical and emotional reasons for it. She and her family are growing, moving, changing. Thanksgiving dinner was the first time in 60+ years that I haven't been the one fixing it. There were many things about the meal that didn't work for me, but I wasn't exhausted for a week afterwards. I suspect Christmas will bring the same blessing.
For the first time in my life I have finished my Christmas shopping, wrapping, and trying to make Christmas PERFECT! This insanity often took me through Christmas morning when, with less than 3 hours before the kids were up, those packages I had just wrapped were opened. WHY?!!!! Why did I do that? Oh, there’s a rabbit hole I could go down!
AND IT'S 12 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!! What will I do with all this extra time?
Oh, yes! I can walk in nature. I can continue to call and write friends just to catch up. I can listen to seasonal music, sit by the fire, talk with my husband and cozy up with my cat on my lap while sitting by a fire without worrying if I will be able to get everything done. I've even gone through boxes of perfectly good clothing that actually still fit me, yet I'm giving it to charities who will pass it on to others who truly need the items. I have enough.
Actually, I have more than enough! It feels so good to give and give and give some more. It's making room for me to breath in the pine, spices, and other smells of season; to look at the lights & decorations with the delight of a child; to think of others instead of myself and to help them; (I gave of my time to hold 4 of my Clutter Buster sessions to encourage others to go through, get rid of, organize, and give to others - lots of women took me up on it, I feel wonderful about it as do they plus still more clothes went to people who need them!)
There's time to sit, be with myself & my thoughts, remember the good times and know that the bad times helped me grow to be the person I am today. There's time to think about the new traditions I want to start. It's less decorating and doing. It's more silence, peace, & calm.
Yes, Sarah, December's gifts are knowing about customs that I can either choose to follow or not. It is about ceremony - creating those that speak to my heart & Soul. It is celebrating that I am alive and healthy and those closest to me are also. And it is a consecration of the sacred - my home, my life, and all that the Divine has created. Yes, I feel your personal blanket of comfort and contentment wrapped around me. May it expand to the many souls who desire these qualities in their lives! May we all learn to call what we first perceive as problems to be gifts and blessings. After all, isn't that also what this season is about?
I discovered you yearrrrs ago..rediscovered you again. I felt I was given an amazing gift. Something I had mislaid and with joy..found again
I have to admit, i am finding it difficult to see blessings right now. I was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This is particularly shocking because I'm 37, in good health, and have no family history of such cancer. I also have a 4 year old son, which makes my potential prognosis all the more devastating.
I love Christmas so much, and am trying to enjoy the small moments I can in between treatments and pain. Sarah, keep it coming; your musings are needed even more right now than I could have dreamed when I signed up last January.