DESIDERATA

 

GO PLACIDLY AMID THE NOISE & HASTE, & REMEMBER WHAT PEACE THERE MAY BE IN SILENCE AS  FAR AS POSSIBLE without surrender be on good terms with all persons.  Speak your truth quietly & clearly; and listen to others, even the dull & ignorant; they too have their story.  Avoid Loud & aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.  If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain & bitter; for always there will be greater & lesser persons than yourself.  Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.  Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.  Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.  But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.  Be yourself.  Especially, do not feign affection.  Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity & disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.  Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.  Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.  But do not distress yourself with imaginings.  Many fears are born of fatigue & loneliness.  Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.  You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees & the stars; you have a right to be here.  And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.  Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors & aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.  With all its sham, drudgery & broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.  Be cheerful.  Strive to be happy.

 

                                                ~ Max  Ehrmann,  Indiana poet, copyright 1922

 

Thought for Today ~

"The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth...The trite subjects of human efforts ~ possessions, outward success, luxury ~ have always seemed to me contemptible."  ~ Albert Einstein

"Wherever there is a human being there is an opportunity for kindness." ~ Seneca

"Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight:  always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary."  ~ Sir James M. Barrie

"Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds."  ~ George Eliot

~ RANDOM ACTS of KINDNESS, The Editors of Conari Press, 1993.

A wise and perceptive Grandfather who lost his son around this time last year thoughtfully prepared little gift bags for each child his family.  On Christmas Eve he watched while the children ran around on the lawn with laser fingers lighting the darkness.  The laser fingers were only one of the small gifts.  Greater was the Grandfather's gift of their uncle's tradition of bags of wacky, goofy things, the highlight of which was always the laser fingers.

"I'll be Home for Chrismas"

"In 1943 the world was at war, and many thousands of American [and Canadian] men and women in the service would be spending Christmas far from home.  As a special gift to them and their families came this lovely, tender ballad, recorded by Bing Crosby.  Just a year earlier, Bing had had a best-seller with Irving Berlin's 'White Christmas,' and his recording of this new song by Kim Gannon and Walter Kent also passed the million-record mark in sales.  On December 17, 1965, the Crosby recording became the first 'request' that was broadcast into outer space.  As astronauts James Lovell and Frank Borman were hurtling back to earth aboard Gemini7 after their record 206 orbits, a NASA transmitter asked if there was any music they would especially like to hear.  Their immediate reply?  Bing's 'I'll Be Home for Christmas.' "

Merry Christmas Songbook, The Reader's Digest Assoc. Inc., 1981.

I'll be home for Christmas;
You can plan on me.
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents on the tree.
Christmas Eve will find me
Where the love-light gleams.
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams.

Wishing you a bright, old-fashioned Christmas and much happiness throughout the year.

 

Wishing you peace and happiness at Christmas and always ~ Merry Chrismas

 

~ John & Lorna

 

 

Looking Back to Christmas With Snow

Candles ~

"The image of Jesus as the light of the world and the midwinter longing for the return of the sun have led to the candle being associated inextricably with Christmas.  This can be seen in church ceremonies such as CANDLEMAS, CHRISTINGLE, or candle-lit carol services, and in numerous home devotions."
Around the world, countries practice different customs:
In Ireland, it is the custom to place a candle in the window during the Christmas season.
In Eastern Europe a large candle is placed in the centre of the table, sometimes stuck in a loaf of bread.
In Germany the Advent wreath, the Lichstock,or Christmas pyramid, and the Christmas tree all employ candles.
In southwestern United States and Mexico luminaria and farolitas light up the night.

Australians flock in the hundreds of thousands to CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT.
Pilipinos place candles in their parols.
In France a beautiful custom is carried on in France's Auvergne on Christmas Eve.  A candle is lit by the oldest member of the family and used to make the sign of the cross.  It is then extinguished and passed on to the eldest son,  The candle is passed from family members until it reaches the youngest.  It is lit and placed in the middle of the table  ~ a signal for the feast to begin.
In Norway the thick Christmas candle must burn all night long on Christmas Eve or, it is believed, a family member will die that year.
Gouda, the centre of the Dutch candle industry, turns off all the electrical lights in the city centre on Christmas Eve, while the mayor, by candlelight, reads the Nativity story to the crowd.

~ The WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA of CHRISTMAS, Gerry Bowler, McClelland & Stewart Ltd.2000.
Illustration from Tasha Tudor