Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

Metamorphosis is defined as a change in the form or nature of a thing or person… into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.

In this case… between the two photos…it is a special app you can apply to a photo to get all kinds of different looks…it is actually lots of fun.

This Christmas, particularly, I have noticed a trend taking place among my friends as we laugh at ourselves over preparations for the holidays. If there was ever a time to use the excuse that we aren’t going to decorate or go “overboard” on decorations… it would be this year.

And anyone would have your back for saying it….because for many people Christmas will be spent alone, or if not alone, with very few members outside the regular family this holiday. So logically there is a tendency….especially if young children aren’t involved any more ….to just stick up a wreath and maybe put out a poinsettia for the room…a table top tree…and call it a day.

Instead the reverse appears to be happening…maybe it is a strange psychological reaction to all the months of isolation, but it is like we can’t get enough lights streaming inside and out… or enough ornaments on our bigger than normal Christmas tree.

For me…I wake up each day excited about what else I can add to the decor…taking old decorations and updating them or changing the scenery around them. I get excited thinking of the perfect gift for someone or how I can revive some memories by replacing friendship ornaments from past to present.

I thought it was just me being my crazy self. Because, outside of a few friends stopping by…for just a few moments…not hours… to wish each other a Merry Christmas or exchange gifts…more times than not I get back home from picking up prescriptions and there is a Christmas present left at the door.

So many people will never see the decorations I have done and worked so hard on…up close and personal…but instead of that being a deterrent…it has become a catalyst to give myself the the very best Christmas ever….I deserve it.  You deserve it! We all do!

I want to enjoy myself each evening reading my favorite Christmas stories…eating yummy Christmas cookies…or watching old Christmas movies…turning out the lights except for all the new decorative ones on the tree, mantle, decoration lights reflecting off mirrors…I want to create a cozy safe secure little magical space for myself while enjoying telephone talks, texts, and emails from family and friends.

I am creating my own Christmas this year…and I am loving it.

My friend Libby told me the same thing, along with some of my neighbors…It is all about getting our minds off terrifying leaps in the spread of the coronavirus…along with  the turbulent on-going political drama…and re-focusing on (as Julie Andrews would sing) my “Favorite Things”..!” (She’s right…”then I don’t feel so bad!”)

Look how pretty Libby has decorated and just having fun exchanging gifts with Ben! Merry Christmas!

Even nature seems to be going through some kind of metamorphosis too…one expects to see the camellias going crazy this time of year…but my morning glories…after several nights of below freezing temperatures….unbelievable!

My Christmas card this year has five stockings hanging…I thought to myself  “Perfect”…because it holds the five most precious presents in the world to me…my ‘Fantastic Five’ grandchildren.

Our Ya Ya friend Jackson and her son Matthew made it back home to New Jersey yesterday where she will be living for a few months while she continues healing after surgery. So glad they made it in a day and she and Matthew can finally get some much needed rest! Take care and have fun Jackson….we can hardly wait to hear about your new adventures!

Dear Reader:

Yesterday I walked into the den in time to overhear a conversation in a Christmas movie, apparently. I still don’t know the name of the show but a young child was starting to question Santa…asking her mother…

“But how can Santa get all the way around the world to every child’s home and leave presents in one night…there’s just not enough time to do that…is there?”…(It was obvious that there was still a yearning lilt of hope burning inside the child…praying her mother knew how it all worked.)

I stopped folding clothes long enough to see how the mother in this movie was going to respond…Would she try to mumble jumble through time zones and other data to throw off the question…or simply say Santa can do it because he is magic and leave it at that…I did not expect the response the script writers can up with…and I was more than impressed.

The mother took time to sit down and pull her daughter beside her…hugging her while responding…something similar to this…

“ My darling, one day you will discover the answer to this question all by yourself…but in the meantime let me share with you what Santa already knows. 

God makes each and everyone of us on earth unique…no one else is exactly like us. He then designs a special path for us to follow and if we do…we can accomplish anything we set out to do.

For Santa Claus….his path in life is bringing joy to boys and girls every Christmas Eve…and in order to do this…he had to find and then bravely follow the path His Creator designed just for him. Only he can follow it…no one else…and his path encircles the world so hope and joy fills every nook and cranny found on this planet.

One day you will discover your path in life too, darling. And like Santa it will take courage to follow it but if you do…you will realize that seemingly impossible things in your life become possible. So follow your path wherever it leads you…so that your life, like Santa’s, will always be filled with endless possibilities.”

I thought to myself…”WOW”…some writer really nailed it.

As I continued folding clothes the conversation stuck with me…I started thinking about my own path in life. I certainly made my share of false starts down wrong paths…Yet I was lucky enough to recognize that some early paths I chose didn’t grow and change with me…until I realized that teaching was a gift that could change lives and that is what I wanted to do…change other’s lives…which, in turn, changed my life forever.

As I visualized what my whimsical path should look like…for whatever reason I began imagining a path with snow surrounded by woods…so I plugged in snowy paths in woods…and guess what popped up? The title picture…with Sammy the Cardinal…waiting to lead me along my chosen path. Definitely a God Wink! 🙂

So until tomorrow….It is up to each of us to find and follow our paths…we will know when we have found it…when suddenly we are filled daily with gratitude and a sense of accomplishment for opportunities to give back our strengths and talents to this world while… we are still in it.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Remember earlier this year when I was afraid I was losing my pear tree….now look at my beautiful tree giving me a gift of red, red, red in my front yard for Christmas!

My old garden Christmas wreath now has a fresh, new bow!

Dear Reader:

I remember while walking the Race for the Cure several years in a row with family and friends…the race “theme song” would begin playing loudly from the speakers around the race route, either walking or running – and that song is still ingrained in my memory and psyche today..it was Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger”…with those famous lyrics blaring…”What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”… 

How true that statement is! That one song would get all the cancer “thrivers” (participating in the race) dancing and jumping to the music… shouting out the refrain as loudly as possible…hearts pumping and life flowing through our veins. For that moment we were alive and it was worth celebrating!

Yesterday I met my pastor, Jeff, in the church sanctuary for him to record my Christmas Eve story. It did feel very strange for the sanctuary to be so quiet since usually when I tell  the Christmas Eve story… I’m shouting from the rafters.

Laughingly I told Jeff I should have brought some cardboard photo cut-outs (like they do at sports events) picturing screaming babies and toddlers throwing temper tantrums…only then would I have felt right at home. A typical Christmas Eve Children’s Service! 🙂

I have already mentioned to you that this year’s story is quite different from the customary fictional Christmas stories I traditionally tell. This year I am telling my story based on an unfortunate incident one pre-Christmas evening that became the impetus for my storytelling overture in 1990 that has become a long-standing legacy.

In fact the reason for my story is an anniversary date coming up …this Christmas Eve’s story marks the 30th anniversary – 30 stories I have told over three decades.

I don’t want to give the story away until I re-write it for you to read Christmas Day…but just let me say that it begins with an unexpected calamity of gigantic proportions and thrusts me into a new challenging stage of my life that will require courage and faith to meet each day.

However…this same incident will bring me a “God Wink” long before I understood what this term meant or delivered. My children and I will bear witness together on the true meaning of Christmas… first hand.

I remember hearing a motivational speaker say once for everyone in the audience to remember… “You had a purpose before anyone had an opinion.” It would take me almost a lifetime to completely understand and accept my purpose in life.

If it had not been for several “guardian angels” that thrust me out of my safety niches…my life would have been very different. It took me awhile but I finally got there…the realization that the most important step in life is learning to step out of our own way.

So until tomorrow:

Our power is  our story…Find the courage to tell it!

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

Yesterday I was talking about adding beauty around mangers with things we love…in my case greenery. While eating lunch, yesterday, I noticed I failed to find one nativity scene…surrounded by green…it was hanging on my Christmas tree! 🙂

A Shout-Out to Poppy “in memoriam”  in honor of his birthday and bringing such joy to earth (family and friends) while visiting here. Happy Birthday Poppy!

Dear Reader:

I know it is the ‘gardener’ in me…but I happen to be of the mind that anything looks better with greenery complementing it…it just adds another dimension of ‘comfort and joy.’

So yesterday…as I began displaying the various mangers I have received as Christmas presents over the years…I started looking around for different types of greenery to add to the creches.

In the title picture …the five separate art components depicting the manger scene are enveloped by one of my indoor hanging green plants…

I have a feeling that if Joseph and Mary could have chosen their son’s birth place… they would have loved at least some “desert” succulents to  afford them a little more privacy…perhaps even succulents in green barrels?

Some historians think the “manger'” was actually more of a cave…if that is true…At the entrance Joseph and Mary could have seen a diversity of mosses, ferns…and inside the cave stalagnites. The “decor”possibilities could go on and on…

I added some different greenery behind the oyster shell manger that Mollie gave me for Christmas last year…love it! Though now that I think about it…I need to find some miniature palms or at least palm fronds to add to this low country beach manger background! 🙂 Coming soon to a manger near you! 🙂

As I busily cleaned out one of my shelves in the “Happy Room” for “Big Red” the painting by Anne…I went for the Christmas garland look with red berries…”Big Red”- the geranium- is getting ready to have four big red blooms on it…my natural porch Christmas decor.

But to tell you the truth…my favorite look at Christmas is a bright white light candle surrounded by ivy. There is just something so pure and peaceful about that particular “look.”

I lucked up when I went to the garage yesterday looking for a certain wreath and instead found an old metallic outline of a tree with a star that contained a candle holder in the center of the structure. Perfect…especially this year…with the exciting viewing of the “Christmas Star” and the close proximity of Jupiter and Neptune. I am so excited about it!!

I placed it on the green chair on the porch…and then went and found some ivy sprigs growing  by the bottle tree in the front yard. My favorite decoration yet!

Don’t we all deserve something special in our lives…especially after this year…perhaps our own dream “greenery” …something that just makes us smile in appreciation of its beauty?

Remember Archibald Rutledge called these items “Life’s Extras“and wrote a marvelous book by that name.

“All spiritual qualities appear to me to be extras; generosity, aspiration, courage, beyond the call of duty, and the love that outlasts the years. These things did not just happen; they could not appear in an accidental world. They were so ordered by the Hand Divine which made our spirits what they are and tenderly ministers to their needs.”

So until tomorrow…

“Faith is one of life’s extras. We do not need it to live; but it is essential to the development of our spirits. It is the covenant which, if kept with God, will keep our pathway clear and our feet from falling. Life is instinct with mystery; but that very fact makes faith both rich and necessary.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

On Christmas Eve for the past three decades I have told numerous Christmas stories at the Children’s Service…about Christmas trees of every description, animals of every type , legends for every Christmas tradition (old and new), Christmas mountain trains who help poor children get presents, coats made from rags and love, Gullah Christmas tales, frozen-in-time Christmas stories, fruit stories that involve either an apple or an orange, fairy tale Christmas stories, angel stories…especially the fun ones like Gloria who is never at the right place at the right time…until the one time when it matters most….and we still remember her when we sing “Gloria!” 🙂

Some stories are humorous, others nostalgic, and some even tear-jerkers…but they all share a central theme..LOVE is what makes Christmas when everything else fails…Christmas is LOVE. Christmas isn’t about money or riches…even the lack of…it is about human kindness shown to one another.

In all these years… I can honestly say…I have never told THE Christmas Story…I leave that up to Luke and Jeff, our pastor…or a congregational reader. Nope…I am the “A/An” storyteller…not  “THE” storyteller.

Do you remember your teacher explaining the difference between the “A/AN” articles (parts of speech) and the “THE” article in your grammar class?

“A/AN” are known as “indefinite articles” – they precede generalized nouns…an example: “We might go to a movie tonight or perhaps an advent gathering.”

“THE” is known as a “definite” article…it precedes specific nouns. The “Grinch Who Stole Christmas” is playing tonight at the Colony Theater.

Of all the thousands of Christmas stories…perhaps millions, we immediately pick up on the difference when we start listening to THE Christmas Story read through Luke in scripture on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

THE Christmas Story that changes the world…THE Christmas Story that has something for everyone…a twisting plot including villains, conspiracy theories, rumors, angels, wise men, housing issues, potential health issues, monetary concerns, shepherd witnesses, rare constellation enigmas…overlapped by human emotions, fear, concern, terror, surprise, faith, hope, and human love for a newborn beyond mortal comprehension…while a star leads us home. It doesn’t get any better than the original story.

In fact…I am finding that going back down memory lane for the past 30 years is much harder than telling one Christmas Eve story…but that is okay…I will start at the very beginning…(a very good place to start)…when a hurricane named Hugo blows through town…and end the story when a mind-blowing corona- virus pandemic spreads throughout our world…bringing pain, panic, fear but also renewed hope, faith, trust…and yes… love!

So until tomorrow…Take time to travel back to past personal Christmases this year and reward your family with a story when you, yourself, overcame an obstacle to discover the true meaning of Christmas. Tell your family the story they will want to pass down to their children one day. A gift for the ages!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Luke texted me today to ask how the tree looks since it has been trimmed…I told him him “spectacular” because family (Mandy, Eva Cate and Jake) came Saturday and helped decorate it…and love always makes a Christmas tree more beautiful…I then sent him this photo…adding he picked a “winner” this year!

***On the way home from running errands today…I noticed a decal on the back window of a car in front of me at a red light…I mis-read one letter and found myself laughing  when I snapped a picture from my car …Later under the lights I  saw what the letter should have been.

I thought the decal looked like it said “CAKE LIFE” ….and (my stomach was growling) I thought…“Umm… I want to know more about this person who’s living a “cake life”…I would like a piece of that life right now.”

…Only to realize after examining the photo again at home…it most likely read “Lake Life” and that is a nice life too…but I think I preferred  the “Cake Life” better…at least my sweet tooth did! 🙂

Dear Reader:

This week’s StoryWorth question yesterday asked me to remember which store was my favorite growing up…or, perhaps, the one store that I remembered the most from my childhood.

Immediately the three-storied Sears building in downtown Fayetteville, North Carolina popped in my memory.

As a child I loved going there with mother and sometimes my siblings…though neither brother liked to shop much when we were little. For me it was a special outing…a mom-daughter get-away.

Even back then I loved history and Fayetteville’s famous Market Place…the site of the original town hall when Fayetteville was once the capital of North Carolina in the late 1700’s.

From the third story of the Sears building I could view the Market Place clearly.

Sears was the only store in which mother had a credit card. She was very astute with money (she had to be) but she kept this one card for the holidays only…especially Christmas and Easter…and solely to get us children holiday attire.

This suited me just fine for about twelve years and then slowly but surely it happened…the pre-teen years began giving way to the early teen years and the dark shadowed “harmone-ous” monster began peeking through my normal laid-back disposition and all sense of “harmony” disappeared.

I had started Horace Sisk Junior High and suddenly realized (13 year old rationale) that in order to be “cool” and “accepted” at school…one needed to wear the “cool” clothes…not “Bobbie Brooks” children’s clothes from Sears.

Unfortunately I was still a runt as my 13th birthday came around…and the only clothes that  fit me were still found in the Sears children’s section (no petites back then)…much to my chagrin.

As many of  my  female classmates began “popping out” all over…my chest still looked like a plowed up flat Kansas farm field.

I had finally gotten braces but my hair betrayed me….it turned dark and curly…no one wanted curly hair in the sixties…everyone wanted long straight hair like Cher’s or short straight hair like Twiggy.…alas..I was doomed.

To make matters worse…mother decided to move the family back to Laurens, her rural hometown, leaving Fayetteville and all my cousins my age behind. My harmones pitched a fit.

I kept hearing mother whispering in the phone…”I don’t know what has gotten into Becky…but she is making everyone miserable with her tantrums.” Deep inside I knew mother spoke the truth…but the problem was…I was too miserable, myself, to stop.

My friends were wearing the cool clothes…Peter Pan round collar “Villager” blouses with circle pins, straight skirts, and the most coveted shoe wear of all…Bass Weejuns. All I had was “baby” clothes from Sears.

But then one day…a miracle. Mother planned a special outing for me (trying to make up for the move probably-since I was lonely and miserable )…We met my Aunt Eva in Greenville and went shopping…  just for me…for back to school clothes.

I sat in the back seat, hopeful but wary, as we passed the Sears store in downtown Greenville and finally pulled up in my personal “mecca”….The “Villager” boutique store….the coolest store around!

I left with a skirt, round collar blouse, a circle pin, and miracle upon miracle…a pair of weejuns…not the fake ones…the BASS ones. I would never..ever… get anything that “cool” (or expensive) again but mother and Aunt Eva had talked and Aunt Eva insisted that I needed to have some clothes for the first day of high school in a new town that would bolster my confidence in making new friends. She paid for those shoes…and from my “ecstatic” face…remembered years later it was worth every penny!

So until tomorrow…Sometimes Christmas comes early and miracles appear in September and not December…but no matter the date, it makes a believer of us in unsurpassed love and compassion.

This “outing”was definitely a definition of unconditional love because I certainly wasn’t deserving of any of it from my behavior…but I must plead the “fifth”… hormones are terrible things….look what they did to me decades later…leading to breast cancer.

***Mother and Aunt Eva…I will always remember that great sacrifice on both your parts to turn an undeserving miserable teenager into the happiest person in the world…and I did have a great high school experience…and college was waiting for me with four friends, the Ya Ya’s, who would be my rock from that freshman year until today. God works in mysterious ways.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Yesterday…I went “elfing”… dropping off some Christmas ornaments for my street neighbors… and I got busted by Vickie who had crept over to my house while I was out and left this “coolest” Christmas decoration with my favorite bird…my Sammy cardinal. Look at what Vickie brought! Love it!

Then Susan appeared with a very heavy Christmas gift…but oh! One well worth the hauling between Susan and me. Susan brought  a box of fire logs…I couldn’t move the box off the indoor steps (which was as far as we could get it) but I could “skin the cat” another way…just open the box and pull out a log! 🙂

Last night I enjoyed my first log out of the Christmas present…a chilly rainy night…just perfect to set the tone for Christmas….Thank you so much Susan! Great idea!

Dear Reader:

Haven’t we all found ourselves saying ‘tried and true’ words of condolences about a friend or loved one who passes away around Christmas? We shake our heads and think…it is going to be such a sad Christmas for the family, etc.

Of course this is true…like any day of the year…when someone we care for leaves this world. “The first Christmas” is the hardest…we whisper…and other nod in mutual understanding.

Yet…isn’t Christmas about life, new life, and old? The world was changed one Christmas Eve with the birth of the Christ Child…and it has never been the same again…even Christ’s later passing couldn’t stop life from re-entering our world in a different sphere… re-defining the knowledge of life… ever more.

Minister and theologian, Quinn Caldwell reflects on this theme and adds his personal thoughts on the subject.

” Life is not limited to humans. This is the God who notes the fall of every sparrow, right? Surely God noted the fall of ever pterodactyl. 

“Niney-nine percent of all the different species that once lived are now extinct. And yet, the place is full of life. Why? Because God does not let extinction win. The dinosaurs go down to bones and molecules, and the mammals rise up to take their place. Homo Sapiens appear on earth and one very particular Homo sapiens, soon to be born in Bethlehem, goes down to dust and rises up the king of heaven.”

Death happens, but so does resurrection. Extinction happens, but so does evolution. And if our bones fit together differently when we walk out of the valley than when we walked in, maybe that’s not so bad. Our good looks have taken awhile to settle in our genes. 🙂

On a personal note…God understands that losing our beloved Tiggy at this time of year is emotionally tough…made more so with the holidays…but it is also a lesson in life and the beauty and reassurance that it will continue, no matter what.

No human or animal is so powerful…that the world will stop at their demise…the world will keep turning…and we will keep learning…that loss is part of finding and re-discovering who we are and how to accept change…no matter the circumstance.

So until tomorrow…

The original Christmas Day changed the world forever…ensuring that life would not only continue…but be better because of  the One born in a manger with love enough to help us keep rediscovering unconditional love over and over…with losses and additions to our lives.

Tiggy’s photo was added yesterday to Boo’s Prayer Tree. Poogie and Tiggy together again.

Christmas keeps spreading as I keep finding more ideas….

Making crosses out of cinnamon sticks adds to a Christmas tree…fantastic smells fill the home.

Jake lost something yesterday…his first tooth…his front tooth..a little lisp for Jake this “Merree Chrithmath!” Too cute!

Dear Reader:

We talk about this a lot…but the giving of time to loved ones and strangers, alike, has got to be the most precious gift of all….on any day…but especially, I think, at Christmas!

Luke surprised me with his gift of time… the most adorable Frasier Fir Friday afternoon…then I sent a photo, along with the lights that Luke had already put on it…with Ruthie, the rag doll, in her favorite element of the year…on the “tip tip top” of the tree… to Mandy.

…And the next thing I knew Mandy said that she could bring Jake and Eva Cate over Saturday morning (yesterday) to help trim the tree! What a blessing in so many ways…have missed seeing the children since I left for the mountains with Tommy and Kaitlyn at Thanksgiving…amid the passing of Tigger.. and I have felt that I wanted to check and see how everyone is adjusting.

Mandy said that each family member has their moments…when they momentarily forget… and then are saddened again…but slowly they are healing.

Part of that is because Mandy is really keeping them busy… making home-made decorations for trees and home-made gifts for family. When they arrived Jake and Eva Cate proudly handed me my gift bag with  Christmas gifts from them.

I had three homemade tree ornaments: a heart, a dolphin, and one mitten from each. Adorable! The first ornaments on the tree!

Eva Cate also pulled artwork from the ornaments and placed two of Anne’s card/ornaments on the tree!

It was now certainly…beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

We had so much fun and trimmed that tree before we knew it…actually ordered lunch early because we finished so quickly. And what a “show piece” it is…thanks Turners!

“Timing” is everything and Rutledge and Lachlan timed Santa perfectly at Hidden Ponds Nursery…this year they could only sit near him but it did not deter them shouting out their Santa list for sure. 🙂

Eloise’s “time-table” for talking to Santa in this “timely” fashion didn’t “pan” out…since she fell fast asleep. No matter…there will be another time and another Santa…no doubt! Plenty of “time” left! 🙂

And as you can tell from the boys’ t-shirts…another timely Saturday with the Clemson Tigers playing football has arrived…nearing the end of the season…which saddens all football fans….Even amid the numerous challenges…football has provided such a wonderful “time-out” from the isolation that accompanies Covid19. As a family we can  text each other throughout the game…lots of fun…and photos add enjoyment too!

GO TIGERS! THE FAMILY LOVES ALL OF YOU! PLAY YOUR HEARTS OUT AND HAVE FUN! STAY SAFE!

So until tomorrow…Let’s remember that the Christmas “time-crunch” is of our own mortal making…not God’s…He has plenty of time to put a little Christmas, a little love, into everyone’s hearts…if we are open to Him.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Mandy told me she was the “mystery reader” this past week for Jake’s kindergarten class. It is a cute idea…a parent or relative of a student in the class selects a favorite Christmas story to read at home, it is “zoomed” into the classroom…the students can hear the story but not see the storyteller (just the book) until the end of the story … then the students try to guess who the reader is by the teacher’s clues.

I asked Mandy what story she read…she told me one of my favorites….and it is!

“Mr. Willowby’s Christmas tree came by special delivery. Full and fresh and glistening green — the biggest tree he had ever seen. He dashed downstairs to open the door — this was the moment he’d waited for.

But once the tree stood in its place, Mr. Willowby made a terrible face. The tree touched the ceiling, then bent like a bow. ‘Oh, good heavens,’ he gasped. ‘Something must go!’

The wonderful story of how one Christmas tree brings so much joy to so many…simply by sharing. Perfect story! Great choice Mandy! Thanks for taking time to share!

When the sunlight hits this pink poinsettia on my “Happy Room” floor…it glows different colors…unfortunately my iphone only can pick up the white light but not differentiate the other more subtle colors…still it brings joy into the house!

Dear Reader:

By now many of you have already heard the “good news”…The Christmas Star is destined to light up the December sky for the first time in 800 YEARS!!!!

On Dec. 21, humans can witness something not seen in nearly 800 years.

That’s right, during the upcoming winter solstice, Jupiter and Saturn will line up to create what is known as the “Christmas Star” or “Star of Bethlehem.”

These two planets haven’t appeared this (relatively) close together from Earth’s vantage point since the Middle Ages.

“Alignments between these two planets are rather rare, occurring once every 20 years or so, but this conjunction is exceptionally rare because of how close the planets will appear to be to one another,” Patrick Hartigan, astronomer at Rice University announced… “You’d have to go all the way back to just before dawn on March 4, 1226, to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in the night sky.”

How exciting is this? I remember after the terrible destruction of Hurricane Hugo… we got the first white Christmas in the low country…a gift unparalleled for southern children…and let’s face it…adults too. It was like something out of a Christmas movie. It started snowing on December 23, 1989…Walsh’s birthday. What a memorable birthday!

…And now this time a brilliant rare sighting of the “Star of Bethlehem” is going to bring joy to so much of the world on December 21…not seen since 1226…and it, too follows, a natural disaster…actually pretty much a disastrous year… for so many- a pandemic…Covid 19.

It is as if God is giving His children a most wondrous Christmas gift this most challenging year to reassure us…that “All is still right with the world“…and we will get back there again.

I live by the impossible… How dull the world would be if we limited ourselves to the possible. Madeleine L’Engle

How revealing that quotation by L’Engle is…Christmas must be lived by the impossible made possible by our Creator. Think about if Joseph and Mary had lived only by the “possible” restrictions of social norms and earthly limitations ….neither one would have been able to accept the birth of Jesus as the Son of God.

The shepherds would not have been able to accept the possibility of angels revealing the future king to them in open fields on a normal evening like any other.

The wise men would have thought that the star they saw on the night of Jesus’s birth was possibly a planet never seen before or some other celestial object but certainly not a sign of a foregone prophesied king…a ruler who would change the world.

Christmas is a time when the our rational thought must turn to irrationality…faith at its most trusting. Perhaps this short piece of prose by Madeleine L’Engle is my Christmas favorite.

This is the irrational season
When love blooms bright and wild.
Had Mary been filled with reason
There’d had been no room for the child.

So until tomorrow …Christianity is all about impossibilities made possible by God… and Christmas is the apex of what can happen when we have trust and faith in our Creator and what He will do for us….out of love. Christmas is pure, untainted love at its best…a peek into what love is all about…an insight into a love beyond our limited comprehension.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

***It is this love that will be our guiding light into the next world….I love this original Christmas card by Joan she sent one year…her little dogs watching the Christmas Star…sadly she, too, has lost a couple of these precious pets recently…like our beloved Tigger. But we must remember like us, they, too, are made of Star Dust and as such can be found again through the rainbow of love.

Think about this momentous type of love as we all watch the Christmas Star in a few weeks!

Ho Ho Ho!!! Luke came driving up in his magic “sleigh” truck with the most beautiful Frasier Fir…it is just perfect. Everything went like clockwork…all the lights worked ( a Christmas miracle) and Ruthie fit just perfectly on the “tip tip top” of the Christmas Tree. Her favorite time of the year…decorating can’t be far behind! 🙂

Dear Reader:

God Winks appear from all kinds of diversified situations, places, and events…but over the years most of my “Ah-Ha” moments have come from reading lines from a book.

I do believe God speaks to us, not only through scripture, but also in the minds of men seeking communication and understanding of God to empower others with this knowledge.

When I came across the children’s title book (today) by Dr. Wayne Dryer (and Kristina Tracey-“I AM”) -I realized how important it is that we grow up understanding that God is not some nice entity that lives really far away in a place called Heaven…instead God lives within us.

Mandy told me that out of the blue…Jake asked where Tigger was the other day…he had been gone a long time. Mandy told Jake that Tigger got sick, too sick to get well again, so he was living in Heaven now. Jake didn’t like that idea at all…he didn’t want Tigger there..he wanted him back home.

That night Jake got sick and started throwing up…that was the last time he saw Tigger when the little dog was throwing up before Mandy and John rushed him to their vet…so now he was scared and asked if he was going to die too.

Tough questions….but I think when we grow up picturing angels, puffy clouds and heaven…some place very far away from which we never return…it is not particularly reassuring…raising more questions than answers.

Dr. Wayne Dryer thought along this line too…writing this book for children…to try to help them understand the concept that God is not separate from us…but is actually an energy living inside of us. I like this example he gives:

“Imagine God as the ocean. If you take a bucket of water out of the ocean, is it still the ocean? Yes. God is the ocean and we are the buckets of water drawn from the ocean- separate but one. “

“I Am”

Hello, my friend-do you know who I am? Listen carefully to this rhyme and try to guess if you can.

Do I live in the clouds so far away? Or is a temple or a church the place that I stay?

I am in these places, yes, that is true. But only because I am in you.

We are not separate- wherever you are, I am there. I am in your mind and your heart…I am everywhere. 

You’re like a candle lit, from my bright flame. My light is your light-we are one and the same. 

I am everything that is good and everything that is real. I am the source of all the warmth you feel.

I am part of you that shares and gives from your heart. I am inspiration behind your music, sports, and arts.

I am the voice that you hear when you are quiet and still, I am the little bird at the your windowsill. 

I am in everyone you see-young or old, big or small, Believe it or not I am in them all. 

Who can I be? I AM GOD, your best friend. And there’s really no line where you start and I end. 

Did you hear what I said- are you listening? For you will be amazed at what this knowledge will bring.

You will live your life knowing it is never just you and that we are together in all that you do. 

Along the way you will find great happiness and love. And you’ll learn that wishes come true from within…not above. 

So don’t look to the sky when you’re looking for me. Look right at yourself..and that’s where I’ll be!

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So until tomorrow…

If I could give all my grandchildren one gift this Christmas…it would be to understand that God lives within them so they can never get lost if each child just keeps talking to God. He will lead their life to reach their full potential through Him… Together Christmas will be shared  with their Creator…Mr. “Christmas” Himself!

*These were pre- Eloise photos (above) but can’t leave my youngest out…:) Last year’s photo…

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

After two nights of freezing temperatures we made it back up to around 60 degrees…and to my surprise all types of summer wildflowers and spring blossoms were still going strong…along with more vibrant shades of fall foliage.