Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Advent

From Random
(one frosty November morning)

I haven't been blogging much. In fact, I haven't been creative at all much of late. Bit of a slump, or down cycle. It's partly, I think, part of the grieving process. This past July my father died, and I have been sitting with this for awhile. Although I am an avid fan of journaling, art journaling and collage and all sorts of "creative' stuff, for some reason this is not how I've processed my grief. Instead, in the summer I sat a lot in my gazebo and rested and daydreamed. In the fall, I walked a lot, listening to music on the iPod.

And now the days are shorter, darkness comes quickly and the weather has slowly turned winter like. No sitting outside, no long evening walks. I have been busy - busy at work, busy with my spiritual direction course. The spiritual side of my life has been fed with music, and reading and the beginnings and excitement of actually doing spiritual direction work with some wonderful people - while the creative side of my life lies dormant, waiting.

In the liturgical year it is Advent. A time of preparation, waiting, expectation. I sit, pregnant with the possibilities that the birth of a new year can bring. There will be creative times again, there will be new projects, new dreams, and new hopes. And there will be new losses, changes and struggles. And while we wait with hope and joy, there is also sadness and missing those who won't be at the Christmas table this year. Both sides of the coin, the yin and the yang.

Seasons and cycles, the turning of the wheel. I sit in the dusky evening quiet and wait for the light to return again. Advent. * o
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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

A Poem for Christmas

I love this one - perfect for this time of year. Merry Christmas!

Sharon’s Christmas Prayer

She was five,
sure of the facts,
and recited them
with slow solemnity
convinced every word
was revelation.
She said

they were so poor
they had only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
to eat
and they went a long way from home
without getting lost. The lady rode
a donkey, the man walked, and the baby
was inside the lady.
they had to stay in a stable
with an ox and an ass (hee-hee)
but the Three Rich Men found them
because a star lited the roof
Shepherds came and you could
pet the sheep but not feed them.
Then the baby was borned.
And do you know who he was?


Her quarter eyes inflated
to silver dollars.
The baby was God.

And she jumped in the air
whirled round, dove into the sofa
and buried her head under the cushion
which is the only proper response
to the Good News of the Incarnation.

by John Shea, The Hour of the Unexpected, Allan, Texas, Argus Communications, 1977 * o
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Sunday, November 09, 2008

We interrupt this month......

Bladder infections suck - and that's pretty much all I have to say about that. I've been laid low with one for almost two weeks now. My energy is pretty zapped, and every day is a balance between what I must and have to get done vs what I would like to do. I know there are lots of people who struggle with that every single day because of some sort of chronic illness and so I will not go on and on about how crappy I feel. Suffice it to say I've been laid low, I'm getting behind on some things, and I'm really hoping to not enter the Christmas season holding as much fatigue as I did last year. Meanwhile I'm crossing the days off the calendar and panicking that Christmas IS coming! Yikes!

I need a time machine, please - anyone have one they can spare??? * o
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Monday, December 03, 2007

Best Christmas Countdown

Sara, at Going Jesus has the best way to countdown the days until Christmas - the Cavalcade of Bad Nativities!

Check out It Came Upon a Midnight Weird - it's more fun than chocolate and better for you too!

Of course it's early yet, but my favorite so far is the Leprechaun nativity. * o
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