Sister Christer

budget cuts

gonna be barking elsewhere for a while.  blessings and prayers for you and the new year.  may peace prevail on earth.  amen.

12 funky accapella days

via natty

blessed happy holy days to you.

advent

It's a chilly Redwood City morning.  The Christmas lights twinkle.  I'm drinking my coffee and reading about how to manage a dysfunctional Christmas - this may be the year I don't break into tears.  yeah, right.

Mom's not here.  And though I hope, I don't "know" where she is.  I mean, I know where she is.  But more immediately and painfully, I know where she's not.

Chiquita, the beautiful, bossy, white, Mexican street cat, wants attention.  She leaps into my lap.  But, she's older now.  She misses by a foot.  And by that I mean her foot lands in my cup of coffee.  And we both leap then. 

This has been the saddest December I have known.  Duh.  Of course it has.  It's the tension.  The many tensions.  Work - not going swimmingly; the "firsts" without Mom.  Birthday and tree decorating and knitting Christmas and holiday and music and then, the presents.  What do you get for someone who's dead? 

Christmas cards are coming in for Mom from people I forgot to tell.  And should I send them a note in the return Christmas card about her death?  Should I wait until after the holidays?  How do people handle this?

And I want to send cards, but don't know what to say.  Merry Christmas?  I want others to have one, but how can I say that when I know now that sometimes it's absolutely impossible.  Oh, I say it.  I tell people.  I know others don't need my sad baggage.  They will have their own one day, if they don't already.

The joy, the happy, the cheer of the holidays it was made by my Mom who really got it.  She knew that we needed a time when the normal was put aside.  The important thing was to be together.  To look at shiny.  To bake some sweet.  To be together.  To play.

We had a beautiful (to my little eyes) nativity set that came out.  It had this filmy white material that was, surely from heaven, that we placed on the roof.  It was cool.  It was snow.

It disappeared after the first fire, I think.  I haven't opened the box with the one Mom replaced it with many years later.  I have my Advent wreath and candles out.  I've not lit the candles.  On the little trea is an ornament I made in 1977 - a paint it and bake it shrinky dink of the nativity.  It's childishly colored and glaringly tacky.  It will have to do and it does.

my favorite christmas comic

in the category of "light the lamp, not the rat!":

oh those savage chickens. 

meg fowler wants to know what you love

Meg Fowler: a cool blog.  With cool questions. 

Such as

Things YOU Love?  Here's my list for today. 

Song you love: Sing Mary Sing (as sung by Jennifer Knapp)

Food you love: Ice Cream. Oh, yes, Ice Cream. In fact, I love ice cream so much that my niece didn’t bring any with the birthday cake because she assumed I’d have some. But I didn’t. Sigh.

Thing you love to look at: the faces of people I love.

Sound you love: The sound of the coffee pot’s final whoosh of coffee preparation.

Thing you love to laugh at: witty movies

Gadget you love: Addi Turbo circular knitting needles

Person you love: Rose Marie

Software you love: Google Chat

Word you love: Wisteria

Thing you love on the internet: Google Images Search

Place you love to go on vacation: Denise’s house

Sensation you love: cashmere yarn through my fingers.

Animal you love: generally, a cow; specifically, a black and white cat named Boots.

Book you love: Guadalupe: Mother of the New Creation, by Virgil Elizondo

Emotion you love: Tenderness

Occasion you love: There’s a part of each of our sister’s funeral that I love – the singing at the end of the Hail Holy Queen by our sisters. It’s so beautiful. And poignant.

Quality you love in people: Humorous perspective

Thing you most love to shop for: presents for others

And finally…

What you love about today: pumpkin flavored cream cheese at the Friendly Friday Feast this a.m.

GO!

LOVE!

I swear, you’ll feel better just for having thought of it all.

In 1964 (the year you were born)

Lyndon B. Johnson is president of the US After riots break out, Panama suspends relations with the US Cassius Clay becomes heavyweight champion when Sonny Liston throws in the towel in the sixth round in Miami Near Anchorage, the strongest earthquake ever to strike North America kills 117 Worst soccer disaster in history occurs when rioting and panic kills over 300 in Liverpool Hundreds of white college students work for civil rights in the south during "Freedom Summer" South Africa sentences Nelson Mandela to life in prison Kemeny and Kurtz create BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), an easy to learn high level programming language Nicolas Cage, Jeff Bezos, Rob Lowe, Elle Macpherson, Courteney Cox Arquette, and Keanu Reeves are born St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series Cleveland Browns win the NFL championship Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles released in the US, sparking Beatlemania The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, breaking television ratings records The game show Jeopardy! debuts on television Mary Poppins, starring Julie Andrews, is the top grossing film

What Happened the Year You Were Born?

Letter from Jesus about Christmas

(received from a good friend of mine and I think it's worth the post.)

Dear Children,

It has come to My attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. Maybe you've forgotten that I wasn't actually born during this time of the year and that it was some of your predecessors who decided to celebrate My birthday on what was actually a time of pagan festival. Inviting me into your life each day is more important than celebrating when Christmas falls on the calendar.

How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own.  I don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Now, having said that, let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santa’s and snowmen in your own yard and put in a small Nativity scene there.  If all My followers did that there wouldn't be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town.

Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was my Father who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I actually spoke of that once in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15: 1 - 8.

If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth, here is my wish list. Choose something from it:

1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to those depressed, lonely, in harms way, or away from home.

2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them.

3. Instead of writing the president complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don't you write and tell him that you'll be praying for him and his family this year. Then follow up.

4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can't afford and they don't need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and how I came to show what it means to love.  Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.

5. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her.

6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don't know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference.

7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a "Merry Christmas" that doesn't keep you from wishing them one. (Then stop  shopping there on Sunday. If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families).  I long to celebrate a day of rest with you each week but you have to stop running around first. 

8. Here's a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no "Christmas" tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don't know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity which believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.

9. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.

Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of all the rest.

Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I'll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and remember : I LOVE YOU

JESUS