"If all I have is NOW, where will I look for joy?'
-- Mark Nepo, "Book of Awakening"
This year, 2021, I've been rereading Mark Nepo's "Book of Awakening" along with Gay Hendricks' "A Year of Living Consciously." I think 2021 has been tougher than 2020 because we entered the year with great hope that the pandemic would end soon. The vaccine was becoming available. All would be well!
Christmas is nearly upon us. Is anyone else having a different sort of Christmas this year.....again? I gave leave to my three sons several years ago to stay in their own homes now that they were married and two had children. It was only right because after I left home I never went home at all at Christmas. My parents lived a day's drive away as did Ken's parents, but even if they'd lived closer I wanted to make my own Christmas traditions.
It was ten Christmases before we had a child to celebrate with us so our tradition was to go out to eat at a lovely restaurant in an old mansion that we only dined at on Christmas Day. Then we'd drive into Washington, DC to view the National Christmas Tree and all the beautiful decorations. Sometimes we'd go to see a heartwarming movie.
After we had children Santa Claus took center stage after all the church activities leading up to Christmas had taken place. I'd be up late Christmas Eve writing a poem with clues for each child's presents that I'd hid about the house.
With the boys celebrating in their own homes now, we're gathering as a family earlier in December to celebrate together. Because of the Pandemic, we are once again celebrating individually with each son and his family. It certainly is less hectic! But there is something about being all together that makes Christmas for me.
❤️Home is where the Heart is❤️
Ultimately, Home IS where the heart is. Today with FaceTime and Zoom we can not only hear but see our loved ones when we can't be with them. And those that have gone on before us never leave our hearts, so they, too, are with us, only in a different way.
I'm wishing each of you a special time of your own making this year. Whether it's being with family and friends, writing Christmas newsletters and cards, baking cookies, reading special Christmas stories (I'm enjoying Louisa May Alcott's Christmas Treasury), binging on holiday movies (Loved A Boy Called Christmas on Netflix), watching YouTube vloggers share how they prepare for Christmas (here's one I loved: Girl in Calico), participating in church activities or community get-togethers (hopefully, masked), or helping the less fortunate, may your endeavors bring Joy and Peace within and to all those you encounter.
If you have time to spare, I'd love to hear what you're doing this year to make Christmas special for you and your loved ones.
Take Joy!
🎶Christmas Music🎶
November 29th was Louisa May Alcott's birthday* and since she shares her birthday with me it was a perfect day for an overnight in Odessa, Delaware, to view Historic Odessa Foundation's recreation of Alcott's Little Women! The last time we had been there was in 2011 when they recreated Tasha Tudor's Christmas. You can read about it on this blog HERE. The Wilson-Warner House each year is turned into a classic children's story Christmas celebration. Other years have been Beatrix Potter, Madeline, Snow White, Secret Garden, Alice in Wonderland. I missed all of these! So I'm signing up to receive their newsletters.
