First, I hope all had a wonderful Christmas, and are looking ahead to a great 2010, Happy New Year!
This is the first day back to work for my husband, who took a vacation week off. We spent it at home, going out on a few day trips, eating out a lot, resting, and enjoying the holidays and a couple of family birthdays.
This year for the first time in a few years, I mailed Christmas Cards, including a Christmas letter that I do each year. As I do the cards, I read all the letters from past years, which brings back many fond memories…have always wished that I’d taken up journaling, but this is the next best thing.
This morning I sat down with several cards that were still sitting under the tree and hadn’t been added to the pile we’ve received by mail over the past weeks, and started reading each one. Some were to my husband, I don’t always take the opportunity to read his cards from our children, feeling at times like it’s something between the children and him, but today I did…and have to say I found myself in tears reading the wonderful things they wrote to and about him…and then reading what they wrote in my own cards. It made me appreciate my husband more, looking at him through my children’s eyes…and myself more, as I often go through the “if only” kind of thinking…if only we had done this, my son would have a great job right now, if only we had done….and the list can go on. But reading cards like the one my son wrote reminds me that we have given him the best thing he will need as he faces lifes challenges, a deep understanding of what the true meaning of CHRISTmas is all about, and the impact that can have on his life.
Then I went and gathered all of the cards received over the weeks, and put them in a basket where they stay throughout the year…all other cards received that year are added to the basket. As I was doing this, I realized I was adding to last year’s cards as well, it seems like it wasn’t all that long ago that we received last year’s Christmas cards.
Last week we have quite a shock when my son had a sudden seizure out of the blue, has never had one before, and he’s 27. He lives home with us due to the economy and a job situation, and is uninsured, but had to be taken to the hospital to rule out any serious conditions, such as a brain tumor, etc. After 2 days of tests, they couldn’t find a major cause, so we are waiting to see what time will bring, hopefully it was just on isolated incidence. He doesn’t smoke, drink alcohol at all, or do any drugs, so all of those things have also been ruled out.
I have to admit that this happening to my son was a tougher blow to take than hearing about the sudden death of Michael Jackson because it was so much more personal, not to mention the death of Farrah Fawcett, I’ve been following her progress and had watched her special on television not that long ago.
Had it not been for the emergency and all the running I would have posted some fond memories about both…and plan to do so soon.
My son is doing well so far, by the way, and not having insurance may mean some help, a reduced price on the hospital bill, we’re still waiting to hear about that.
A couple of nights ago they were playing “The Sound of Music” on television, so I started rummaging through some old VHS tapes looking for our old copy of the movie so we could watch it commercial free…haven’t purchased a DVD of it yet.
While looking through the pile, I came across our copy of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” which, of course, brought back a flood of memories for both my husband and myself. For me, it was simply the fact that I enjoyed watching it when I was young, and we enjoyed watching it together with our children when they were young. For my husband, it is the stories his mother would tell about knowing the family of the person on which the character, Lucy, was based.
We talked about the movie when we were gathered with family for dinner this Christmas, and my brother-in-law asked “Did you ever notice that Linus puts down his security blanket when he says ‘fear not’ when he explains to Charlie Brown the true meaning of Christmas?” He’s right!
I am late posting Christmas wishes this year, but take a look at this little clip I found on YouTube of Linus sharing what Christmas is all about with Charlie Brown, and may I wish you the joy of the real meaning of Christmas not just one day of the year, but every day of the year!
Many of my memories take place right here in my home state of New Jersey, and around this time of year, when it is COLD and I’m busy stoking my wood stove up here in the hills of Northern New Jersey, a Jersey Shore beach vacation isn’t the first thing that pops into my mind…so it’s good to have a reminder to make summer plans ahead of time when the prices are GREAT. Now that our children are grown, we love to vacation at the jersey shore in September. Last year the Spring brought with it warm weather as early as April, so we were down at the shore for several days.
When you are vacationing with children, a fun place to enjoy a New Jersey vacation is in the Wildwood area of the Jersey Shore at Morey’s Piers. Not only are you in the vicinity of beautiful beaches as well as the natural beauty of preserved land, but there’s plenty of water park fun for the children!
There is a special going on right now, from December 1 through January 9, you can save close to 40% on a season pass to Morey’s Piers, and enjoy both of their water parks, and these days, with all of us counting our pennies, sales like this are just what we need. So visit the link above, and makes some plans to make some memories with your family this summer…come to think of it, this may be a great Christmas gift idea!
This weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving, a fairly quiet 4 day weekend, we don’t shop on “Black Friday”, I handle most of that online. We had a break with tradition this year by having dinner at my brother’s home, 12 of us, each household bringing a dish or 2 to share.
But where does “Fiddler on the Roof” (click image for info on the collectors edition) come in? This weekend it was on television, so hubby and I watched it….again. We’ve seen it many times together in our 30 years of marriage, and I remember seeing it in the theaters when I was dating. Today I was reflecting on how my view of the movie has changed through the years. It goes something like this:
When I saw it 30 some years ago on a date, I related to the girls in the movie, with all the romantic notions of a girl or young woman who has not yet met “Mr. Right”, and the date I was with when I saw it wasn’t “Mr. Right” by the way :-).
When my husband and I watched it together as a newly married couple with no children, we had many hopes and dreams. No children, what would it be like to raise children? Would we have daughters or sons? Would my husband be a “rich man” or sing “if I were a rich man”? I’d say right about now he’s singing the latter…but we didn’t have any idea back then, viewed it through eyes of hopes, dreams, expectations.
Watching it with children, hubby and I would look at each other knowingly as we saw the daughters rebel to one degree or another in the movie.
When we watched it this year, with a married daughter, feeling like we still have hopes and dreams, but a lot more memories than we did when we first viewed the movie, we felt empathy with the change the parents were facing, and not always happy changes. We’ve walked through many challenges together as a married couple, and looked at one another and thought “Do I love him/her”, “does she/he love me?”and thankfully can say “Yes, I do”.
What is it that we love most about this movie? The constant dialogue the character Tevye, a role so perfectly suited to the actor, Topol, had with God. He talked to God about everything, from the silliest to the most serious things, no matter what condition he was in, he was not afraid to talk to his God. Oh that we all would feel so free to talk to God, our Father in Heaven. Thanks to what Jesus has done for us, we have that freedom available to us, the thing I’m most thankful for this year.
My friend, the amazingly talented “Pop Art Diva“, who happens to pop in here now and then to post a comment, sent the following link along in her last newsletter, it’s great!!
View it, and if you grew up in the 40’s, 50’s, or part of the 60’s, you’ll enjoy! Sign up for the newsletter at the end to catch up with what has happened to who and more from days gone by.
Today I was listening to Sarah Palin speak in Iowa, and again she mentioned her desire to bring awareness to the unique challenges that those who have “special needs” family members, or family members with “disabilities”, face on a day to day basis.
This touches a very special place in my heart because I have a brother who is in his 40’s who is a special needs adult. The memories from his past life are a mixed bag that contains many different emotions. Maybe, over time, I’ll share some of those things with you, and you can share your situations if you’ve “been there” in comments here, if you like.
For now, may I just say that it is wonderful to see that someone is bringing this issue to the forefront on a national level! After just finishing spending several years helping my family and brother by researching how to best meet my brother’s future needs, I have learned and seen a lot, and there is a lot of need in this area.
My brother, John, is in his 40’s, he has a delightful disposition, and a wonderful smile, because my Mom, who will be 80 in a couple of weeks, has been devoted to him and his care. John cannot talk, he can walk, but not easily, he can’t hear in one ear, and can only hear a bit in the other. All of this from a bout with Spinal Meningitis when he was a baby, while we were on vacation as a family at my Grandparents.
After the doctors realized the damage that had been done to my 6 month old baby brother from this illness that kept him in the hospital for most of the summer, and often with a 50/50 chance of living, they told my mother that it would be best if she just put him in an institution, that he would never amount to anything. That was not to be, and because of it, my brother was an active member of our family for his whole life. He is capable of caring for many of his own personal needs, getting a bowl of cereal, vacuuming, dressing himself, so many little helpful things that would never have happened had he been raised in an institution. There is a lot deep inside my brother that you see in his eyes that may never come out until we can talk to one another in heaven when all things are made new…what a day that will be!
Recently, after a lot of work and even more prayer, we were able to move my brother into a Christian group home, the one that we hoped and prayed he would live in, and he is happy there. Best of all, he doesn’t live far from all of us.
Was it always an easy road? Far from it, but it is through the challenges in life that we learn the most, isn’t it?
