Tis The Season...

Today, I let my daughter eat a chocolate truffle for breakfast. Because I am super awesome like that. The caveat was that she had to eat two pear slices to offset the sugar. It makes sense, right? Besides, its Christmas time and we all know that calories don’t count at Christmas.

This month, we’ve been busy, busy, busy. Too busy in fact for me to feel like I was actually enjoying the season, I can’t remember that happening to me before. I feel like I should be standing on a street corner, belting out Faith Hill’s “Where Are You Christmas?” and then the spirit of the season might just come upon me. Or not…

But in truth, the moments of joy I have found have always been when I am doing something for someone else. The recurring theme of my life for the past few months has definitely been inward focused me equals feelings of doubt and discontent, outward focused me equals satisfaction and peace. That makes sense too, right? I know I am always most satisfied when I am a part of something bigger than me, though I confess, I really had to push myself to even care about being nice. Santa must surely have me on the naughty list. But I have learned that you can never put a value on something as small as just speaking a kind word to a friend and asking them how they are. How they really are, and caring about their reply.

We are winding down and I look forward to visiting with family and enjoying life in the slow lane for a few days. Above all, I am grateful to enter this sacred season with my health, my family healthy and presents under our tree. We are most fortunate and blessed. Laters.

Hmm... what she said.

I was thinking about this time of year and how I need to remember the sacredness of the event, and find peace in the frenzy, then Maya Angelou said it one hundred times better than I ever could, so I'll just let her run with it. (thanks Kara)

Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem

 

snow in bethlehem

By Maya Angelou

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Flood waters await us in our avenues.

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and grey and threatening.

We question ourselves.
What have we done to so affront nature?
We worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.

It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.
Flood waters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.

Hope is born again in the faces of children
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors.

In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.

Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
implore you to stay awhile with us
so we may learn by your shimmering light
how to look beyond complexion and see community.

It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.
On this platform of peace, we can create a language
to translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.
At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ

Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues the coming of hope.
All the earth’s tribes loosen their voices to celebrate the promise of
Peace.

We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Nonbelievers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace.

We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace.

We look at each other, then into ourselves,
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation:

Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul

Great Balls Of Fire

I woke up this morning at 5 a.m. screaming from a killer charlie-horse. (another not so lovely side effect of my meds) I alternated between a weird wheezy scream and outright hollering.  Since I was awake and in need of some support, I made sure that K was awake too so that he could enjoy the moment with me. With the screaming, you’d think he’d be awake already, but what can I say, the man is a sound sleeper. I emphatically suggested that he rub my calf and he gave it his best effort, but again, he’s not on his game much that early so it was a little anti-climactic. The pain brought out some colorful phrases and the urge to yell "ay-yi-yi" and "Dios Mio" in a Spanish accent. The cramp lasted somewhere between infinity and eternity and made my calf so sore, I could barely walk on it this morning, not to mention wear my work heels. I schlepped around for most of the day in flip-flops and then gingerly tried on my heels for a walk to the post office. I was still no better and in fact in standing position, the muscles twitch and jerk and threatened to cramp again at any moment. I’m just lucky I guess.  Laters.