It’s Time For Lots of Colorful Lights
Posted on November 29, 2009 with 1 comment
For the past few days it’s taken all the self restraint I could muster to keep from dragging out every string of colored lights in this house. Other responsibilities need my attention, so the colorful lights will have to wait for me...and I will have to wait for them.
This happens almost every year, but this year it’s different. Very different. We didn’t get to spend Christmas at home last year. We didn’t get to be with our wily but winsome and affectionate cats. Didn’t get to be with our beautiful pumpkin red dog, who I feel a connection with beyond measure. We love these animals and call them ‘babies’. This year we have a puppy who isn’t quite one year old. He is more than delightful to be with. How can anyone say how special their furry friends are? It’s impossible to tell. We missed or pets terribly last Christmas.
Last year we couldn’t make the hot chocolate, or the mulled wine. Didn’t get to play Mannheim Steamroller. Didn’t string any lights, or play carols. No tree with ornaments. No warm cozy eves, snuggled with secrets of Santa.
Instead, we were in Washington DC staying in a hotel. We were waiting for the doctor to tell us the date for Mary’s angiogram of the brain. You see, after several years of searching for help and answers .... and after several years of receiving neither ... after countless physicians had told Mary that, “nothing was wrong with her”... it was discovered that Mary has an aneurysm located deep inside her brain.
So there we were somewhere in the vast realm of agonizing uncertainty, where sleep is scarce and dread is plentiful. So there we were .... both trying to be brave and strong.
No one else seemed very alarmed by any of these circumstances. Most seemed calm and assured that ‘modern medicine’ could and would do everything necessary. But, after the journey that brought us to this point, there really wasn’t much consolation in such thoughts for me. I won’t speak for Mary. We made the best of crippling situation and clung strongly to our love for each other. We refused to allow fear to crush us and instead we tuned in to our spirituality, praying to leap the dark yawning chasm unscathed.
So, we will have our colored lights this year. Every string of lights we’ve accumulated since 1999 will twinkle and glow somewhere in our home or in our yard. I demand it this year, because we have so much to be thankful for. We have each other and we have our “babies”, and we even have a little puppy who will be seeing sparkling lights for his first time. Most of all, we have love.
This year we will mull the wine, bake the bread, play Mannheim Steamroller and we’ll give thanks for every day and night of sharing and caring with and for each other. We’ll miss loved ones who have passed away, and those who are gone in some other way. We’ll love them all, and remember them all, whether they are here on this earth or in the afterlife. We’ll talk and reminisce about friends and loved ones. We’ll recall going to see the Nutcracker Suite not just once, but twice, at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA. We’ll remember going to see the presentation of The Messiah at Atlanta Symphony Hall. We’ll talk about how our friend D.J. went with us and what a nice time we had. Of course, last but certainly not least, we’ll recall seeing Mannheim Steamroller in concert, in the Atlanta GA area. What a thrill that was!
All the while colored lights we’ve collected during our 10 year union will be glowing everywhere around us, as a symbol of great thankfulness to the Creator, who, by the way, loves all of us.
Here’s wishing you a very Peaceful and Joyful Holiday Season from our home to yours. Here’s hoping everyone is safe and ‘so cozy’. If you live near McAdenville, NC, I hope you get to see the, “ALL”, of it ! When you hear the sounds of hooves on the roof, I hope you remembered to place the cookies and milk near the tree for Santa. As for me? I just can’t wait for the organic eggnog. HO! HO! HO! Merry Christmas!
This happens almost every year, but this year it’s different. Very different. We didn’t get to spend Christmas at home last year. We didn’t get to be with our wily but winsome and affectionate cats. Didn’t get to be with our beautiful pumpkin red dog, who I feel a connection with beyond measure. We love these animals and call them ‘babies’. This year we have a puppy who isn’t quite one year old. He is more than delightful to be with. How can anyone say how special their furry friends are? It’s impossible to tell. We missed or pets terribly last Christmas.
Last year we couldn’t make the hot chocolate, or the mulled wine. Didn’t get to play Mannheim Steamroller. Didn’t string any lights, or play carols. No tree with ornaments. No warm cozy eves, snuggled with secrets of Santa.
Instead, we were in Washington DC staying in a hotel. We were waiting for the doctor to tell us the date for Mary’s angiogram of the brain. You see, after several years of searching for help and answers .... and after several years of receiving neither ... after countless physicians had told Mary that, “nothing was wrong with her”... it was discovered that Mary has an aneurysm located deep inside her brain.
So there we were somewhere in the vast realm of agonizing uncertainty, where sleep is scarce and dread is plentiful. So there we were .... both trying to be brave and strong.
No one else seemed very alarmed by any of these circumstances. Most seemed calm and assured that ‘modern medicine’ could and would do everything necessary. But, after the journey that brought us to this point, there really wasn’t much consolation in such thoughts for me. I won’t speak for Mary. We made the best of crippling situation and clung strongly to our love for each other. We refused to allow fear to crush us and instead we tuned in to our spirituality, praying to leap the dark yawning chasm unscathed.
So, we will have our colored lights this year. Every string of lights we’ve accumulated since 1999 will twinkle and glow somewhere in our home or in our yard. I demand it this year, because we have so much to be thankful for. We have each other and we have our “babies”, and we even have a little puppy who will be seeing sparkling lights for his first time. Most of all, we have love.
This year we will mull the wine, bake the bread, play Mannheim Steamroller and we’ll give thanks for every day and night of sharing and caring with and for each other. We’ll miss loved ones who have passed away, and those who are gone in some other way. We’ll love them all, and remember them all, whether they are here on this earth or in the afterlife. We’ll talk and reminisce about friends and loved ones. We’ll recall going to see the Nutcracker Suite not just once, but twice, at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA. We’ll remember going to see the presentation of The Messiah at Atlanta Symphony Hall. We’ll talk about how our friend D.J. went with us and what a nice time we had. Of course, last but certainly not least, we’ll recall seeing Mannheim Steamroller in concert, in the Atlanta GA area. What a thrill that was!
All the while colored lights we’ve collected during our 10 year union will be glowing everywhere around us, as a symbol of great thankfulness to the Creator, who, by the way, loves all of us.
Here’s wishing you a very Peaceful and Joyful Holiday Season from our home to yours. Here’s hoping everyone is safe and ‘so cozy’. If you live near McAdenville, NC, I hope you get to see the, “ALL”, of it ! When you hear the sounds of hooves on the roof, I hope you remembered to place the cookies and milk near the tree for Santa. As for me? I just can’t wait for the organic eggnog. HO! HO! HO! Merry Christmas!