Celebrate Like the Shepherds

 The Christmas season ended last Sunday, but my decorations are still up. I have been busy in some ways, reluctant to let go of the good feelings of Christmas this year in other ways. I am okay with the tree lights shining. I still turn it on when I sit in the living room. I am not over Christmas yet.

In the Christmas story I suppose I most identify with the shepherds.  They were told about the birth of Jesus by the angels.  They decided to go to Bethlehem and see for themselves.  They saw and were amazed.  They returned home glorifying and praising God.

This year in one of my meditation times I considered the shepherds more closely, more intimately.  Of course, I really have no idea how it all went down, I can only imagine.  Imagine that you had a lower class job, smelly, ignorant, on the edges of society.  Imagine that you were one of the marginalized persons in the world.  But, angels came and told you something so big and amazing that you had to see it for yourself.  And you went and saw and were amazed.  How would your life be changed?  What would you do going forward?

I can only imagine that the shepherds celebrated.  I imagined they laughed and partied.  I wonder if any of them changed their lives? Surely at the very least they would remember that event for the rest of their lives. So this year I will celebrate like the shepherds. I want to keep the Christ in the central view of my life.  I want to remember to celebrate. Celebrate like the shepherds. How is that for a New Year's resolution?

Happy New Year, 2021

 Happy, happy 2021! I wish for you the blessings of peace, joy and love for this new year.

A Year That Will Live in Infamy

The last day of the year has always been special to me.  It was my dad's birthday.  Most years he went to some kind of New Year's party. He always ate pickled herring at New Year's Eve. When I was older we would have family card parties. In my whole adult life I really can't remember ever being at a New Year's Eve party. I have lived a pretty boring life.

But, this year, I won't be going to a party for the new year.  But, I will be looking forward to the new year more than any year of my life. I have moderately high hopes for 2021. It would have to be a really awful year to be worse than 2020.  Not that it isn't possible, but I have high hopes for a better year.

I look forward to a regime change in Washington.  Out with the old and in with the new.  I look forward to the vaccine.  As an over 65, I think I am in group 1c, maybe by February or surely March I will have yet another shot, perhaps one of the most important shots of my life. I look forward to trying some new things, making some changes.  Will I try camping? Get a dog? Travel?

I could sum up the things that happened this year.  I think a personal list is most relevant. I had a new granddaughter in the height of the lockdown. She is a keeper. My grandson somehow turned into a preschooler from a toddler. My sister sprung my 99 year old mother from nursing home lockdown and kept her. (Mom moved in with my sister and brother in law.) I got a couple of parakeets and replaced Scarlet with Jojo. (They are betta fish, Scarlet died.)  I took up walking again.

2020 was a hard year with a lot of loneliness and frustration.  It was a year of fear and uncertainty. The new year will start out the same, but I hope that it just keeps getting better and better. My grandchildren will turn one and three and my mom will be 100 this year! I look forward to actually seeing people again, not just on computer screens. I have been blessed.  I pray to continue in God's grace and love, knowing that I have done nothing to merit the favors I have received. I am learning to focus on the good.

And I Wish You a Happy New Year

I have had my ups and downs this Advent.  I fell off the altar after reconciliation and bruised my knee, but otherwise I was fine, if embarrassed.  I had 3 parties in one week early in Advent.  I hosted my family at my house the Sunday before Christmas. My grand-baby is still a joy. I have been busier than I would like to be.  I get depressed this time of year.  It is the anniversary of many sad events in my life. 

But, New Year's Eve is the anniversary of my father's birth. It is 100 years since he was born in his grandmother's house in Quincy, IL. I think having a loving father has really helped me to be able to relate to God as father. By New Year's Day I find that the anxiety and depression I feel in December starts to lift.  And the light is coming back.  The light.

I have a busy weekend ahead.  I wish that my Christmas tree would take itself down.  I suppose I can wait a few weeks to the Baptism of the Lord which is mid-January.  But, I would like it down.  I am done with Christmas.  I think next year I will try to have a better plan than to be busy busy busy.

For 2 years I have had a resolution to buy a lottery ticket, and I haven't bought one yet.  So, this year I will buy 3 lottery tickets.  I certainly don't expect to win, but it feels like a wild and crazy thing to do.  I have a very low bar for wild and crazy.

I need to continue to tidy up and get rid of stuff.  My mom at 98 has largely forgotten her stuff and it is time to let it go from my basement.  I need to organize my stuff and get rid of some of that. So that is a resolution.  Pare down the stuff in my life and organize the rest of it.

I want to write more and do things with friends more and quilt and sew more.  I want to travel and research genealogy and get some work done at my house.  I have several plumbing jobs, at least one entry door that needs to be replaced, and a fireplace that needs converting.  I intend to do some of those things.

I started daily writing a prayer relating to the Mass readings a few months ago.  I intend to continue that.  It has enhanced my life with God.  I have again uncovered my lack of trust in God's mercy.  Abuse survivors often have problems with that.  But the great thing is that God uncovers my problem, I get upset and then I work to get to the place God is calling me.

My son and daughter-in-law are expecting a baby girl around Easter.  I call her Bunny until she has a real name. This baby is exciting and scary at the same time.  I haven't raised a girl, I haven't changed a baby girl diaper in decades and then not many of those in my whole life.  Girls cry more easily if my memories of teaching serve me, but maybe she will be in school before she turns that way.

The sun is going down and I need to finish up here. I hope if you are reading this that you had a happy Christmas and will have a blessed new year.