Merry Christmas

We have a misty morning but may get some snow later in the day. It will still be a beautiful day. My Mom is up and that is the sound I always strain to hear in the morning. With her very bad heart I always listen carefully for the sounds of her stirring before I can really start my day right. The older brother is 'hogging' the bathroom as usual. It cracks me up that I’m the only girl in the family but it takes my brother twice as long to get ready as it does me. My younger brother isn't stirring yet but he will soon smell the coffee I made and be up. He was as "giddy as a school boy" last night. He is in the throes of a very bitter divorce and is really hurting because of it. He has found a lady that eases his heart and he got the nerve to tell Mom about her last night only to find out that Mom really does understand. Last night I talked to my niece and her children as they opened the presents that I sent them. Their tradition is to open one gift on Christmas Eve. I also got a chance to talk a bit the man she is marrying in June. He is a Presbyterian minister and one of the nicest people you could ever meet. After the heartbreak of being dumped by her husband with three children under the age of six and fifteen dollars she has made something of her life and found a truly good man, who loves her and the children, to spend the rest of her life with. Yes life is good.

As we celebrate the birth of a baby in the manager so long ago I hope that we can learn the peace and love that he brought to the world. That is what Christmas is about. My prayer on this day is that everyone, for this one day, lets go of the anger in their hearts and any hatred they feel towards their fellow man. Try it today. You will find if you can do it today that it will be easier to do tomorrow and in the following days. Give your heart the greatest gift of all. Give your heart the peace and love of that baby boy. It will be the best present you have ever received.

I create a Christmas picture for my cards every year. This one is called "All Creatures Great and Small." It is from the poem by Cecil Francis Alexander.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.