Silver Bells

City sidewalk, busy sidewalks.
Hey!  I’m having a really tough time reconciling that we’re already past Thanksgiving and we’re nearly to Christmas.  It’s just that it doesn’t feel like Christmas.  I don’t feel Jolly.  I’m not singing Christmas Carols.  In the community band where we been rehearsing Christmas Songs for at least six weeks now.  I feel no Christmas Spirit.  I even participated in the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.  Still no Christmas spirit.  What is wrong with me? 

Dressed in holiday style
I believe the problem lies in my heart.  I’ve let all the troubles of the world invade my heart and weigh it down.  It’s not that I feel sad, it’s just I don’t feel anything at all.  Just the weight of the world.  Though I do know it’s good to think about others instead of ourselves.  Though I think that Christmas time is a time to reflect on the Miracle of Christmas! 

In the air
The Miracle of Christmas, even the words themselves have a glow to them.  In the sky, a great star light up for all to see,  great wise men follow the star to a little baby wrapped in rags for warmth.  The setting is that of the poorest of the poor.  A young mother watches over her little one making sure it is safe and fed well. 

There’s a feeling
We forget in our fear that when Jesus the Christ was crucified on the cross there was an insurrectionist hanging on either side of him.  Don’t believe me?  Read it, it’s in the bible.  Somethings never change. 

Of Christmas
And next to the little baby wrapped in rags and the young mother is a gentle older man making sure both these treasures are safe.  For that is his greatest concern.  Keeping his small family safe and well-cared for in this stable, where they stopped for the night. 

Children laughing,
Three wise men approached, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  The Father and young mother marveled in their heart on how God was caring for them in a small stable in the city of David, surrounded by all the animals who sleep and eat in the stable.  These gifts the wise man brought would help them in the future provide for their journey to Egypt to escape King Herod insane edicts to slay all the first-born children.  But of course, the father and young mother didn’t know that then.  They simply trusted God in His Wisdom to show them the way. 

People passing,
And guess what, God kept them safe in a time, where there was little to none safety to be found.  A small family with only the clothes on their back, a donkey to carry them and meals as God provided them.  And it was a real miracle.  Born in our hearts on Christmas Day.   I guess it’s not so difficult to get in the Christmas spirit after all.   

Meeting smile after smile,
I think one of the reasons, I’m lagging behind in Christmas spirit is because I’m separated from my son right now.  He’s in California with his Dad, and I’m in Florida with my Dad (small grin).  I miss him, it won’t feel like the holidays till he joins us for Christmas.  Loving you, my son, from a distance.  Hoping you’ll be in the Christmas spirit soon when you come to visit.

and on every street corner you’ll hear
Wishing you all the finest the miracle of Christmas can offer you and your loved one this holiday season.    If you think of it, please pay this message forward where you can.  Much Love to you and your family!

Silver bells, silver bells
It’s Christmas time in the city
Ring-a-ling, hear them sing
Soon it will be Christmas day.

Holiday Blues

 Holiday candles bringing warmth to a room, Jingle bells on the front door, ringing every time it opens. Grandma’s house is filled with all kinds of moving miniature dolls, made to look like Ma & Pa Santa Clause, inviting you to come in and enjoy the heavenly decorated Christmas Tree, filled with memories from Christmas’ past.

 The smells of cinnamon and cranberries scents fill your nostrils pinging your memory of times past when the Holiday’s weren’t all that pleasant or welcomed. Times filled with sadness and dread. Suddenly, you’re ready to craw back into bed and Hide, like the proverbial ground hog that craws back into it’s hole after seeing it’s shadow each year during Groundhog Day.

 Holiday Blues can be a common experience. With the Holidays being such a big Consumer Holiday, the commercials constantly telling you it’s the Holidays and you need to meet everyone expectation, the possibility of spending the holidays alone, all this and the memory of the loss of a loved one from Holiday’s past make Holiday’s a difficult time for many people.

 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Psychological Association, the National Mental Health Association, and the Mental Health Association of Colorado have put together a number of recommendations to help you survive the Holiday Blues.

• Plan ahead and set realistic expectations and goals for the holidays. Plan a budget for gift and holiday decorations and stick to your budget
• Limit your drinking.
• Don’t let anyone “guilt you” into celebrating the Holidays.
• Allow yourself to express your feelings, especially if you have recently experience a tragedy, death or break-up with a loved one, tell people about your needs.
• Enjoy Holidays that are free: such as driving around and viewing Holiday Decorations; participating by joining a performance of a Holiday Musical Concerts or plays; Offer to chaperon a school function for your child. Also I find that it feels really good to volunteer your time at the hospital, hospice or senior home. It feels good and it does so much good for the people you are there to help! You can even get some friends together to Carol for a local retirement home. They are always looking for people to come in and cheer-up their residences.

 Here’s to Holiday Cheer and hoping that we all share in a big helping of it.

HBO’s Last Letters Home

 

Voices of American Troops from the Battlefields of Iraq

I’ll be Home for Christmas
Heroic (Angelic) Soldiers of war. who have come to fight the wars for us. 

You can plan on me.
I’m watching a docudrama on HBO right now called “Letters from Home”. “Letters from Home” about the last letter a soldier send his family; often after his or her death.  It is a heart-felt docudrama, where letters are shared by the family of the soldier who service in Iraq came to an abupt end.  The letters also  appeared in the New York Times and can be found at the URL http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/11/opinion/11INTRO.html?ex=1227416400&en=5d3e426af85f536d&ei=5070

Please have snow and mistletoe
The story is very telling and hard to hear as you feel the strong emotions of the family. The letters tell stories of brave soldiers cradled in the love of their family until they sign-up and are sent off to war. The letters tell a story of pure love and goodness. The letters are filled with faith and hope of a return to their families and homes. The families reading the letters tell stories of caring children who went to war bravely and without regret. The soldiers knew their call and answered accordingly. How could we not respond with our greatest prayers of Gratitude and Love for their families who so willingly raised them with good values and sent them off to war to fight for their country.

And presents on the tree.
Excerpt of a letter from Army Pfc. Jesse A. Givens, 34, of Springfield, Mo. Private Givens was killed May 1 when his tank fell into the Euphrates River after the bank on which he was parked gave way. This letter was written to be delivered to his family if he died. Melissa is his wife, Dakota his 6-year-old stepson and Bean the name he used for his son, Carson, who was born May 29. “

I never thought that I would be writing a letter like this. I really don’t know where to start. I’ve been getting bad feelings, though and, well, if you are reading this….”

“The happiest moments in my life all deal with my little family. I will always have with me the small moments we all shared. The moments when you quit taking life so serious and smiled. The sounds of a beautiful boy’s laughter or the simple nudge of a baby unborn. You will never know how complete you have made me. You saved me from loneliness and taught me how to think beyond myself. You taught me how to live and to love. You opened my eyes to a world I never dreamed existed.“

Christmas Eve will find me
What do we do with our grief knowing the tremendous loss of these heroic families who suffer missing their loved ones during the Holidays?   We can pray, pray with Gratitude for their Love, their steadfastness, and their courage.  Something, that is difficult to find in today’s world. Pray with Gratitude to God for sending these brave souls in our midst to fight these battles for us and pray too that God may bless these families and our country during the war.

Where the love light gleams.
Dedicated to the American Soldiers in Iraq.

I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams…

Many Thanks to Diana Krall for the use of her lyrics. Thanks to the New York Times for the Excerpt of a letter from Army Pfc. Jesse A. Givens, and to his family who suffered the loss of such a good and brave soldier. Thanks also to CBS for the use of their picture of the Iraqi boy and the American Soldier. Most Importantly, many thanks to HBO for telling a story that we all needed to hear “Last Letters Home” …I am in your debt.

  To find more letters from home and to see what American families are doing to reach out to their love ones over in Iraq, please see: http://www.soldierlife.com