Sunday, December 23, 2012

Christmas Greetings for 2012


Today, I feel deep-down gratitude for all of you who have so faithfully read my two blogs—the one I began in 2011 and this one on writing. Thank you for your ongoing support and encouragement through your comments and good wishes. Your generous friendship has lifted my spirits during a year when I find myself musing about what next to do with my writing.
         Before reading my Christmas wish for you, which is a repost of last year's Yule prayer on my coming-home blog, you may like to listen to one of my favorite Christmas carols: The Shepherd’s Pipe Carol. At the end of the posting, I’ve inserted another favorite: Pat-A-Pan.



To all of you from South Africa to Great Britain
to the far-flung states of the Northwest and California
to Canada and Florida,
the Southwest and the Midwest,
Boston and Cleveland,
and all the toasty homes in between,

I wish you a Chanukah filled to brimming with merriment,
a Christmas heart-deep in peace,
a Boxing Day sparkled with laughter,  
a Kwanzaa candlelit by joy,
and a year’s ending
that finds you content
with your life and its gifts.

Ellie, Maggie, and Matthew
have asked me to convey their gratitude to all of you.
Now that I’ve joined the family of bloggers,
I no longer disturb their naps with play.
For this, they give thanks
even as they hunker by the patio doors,
gnashing their teeth and chirruping
at winter birds and squirrels feasting on sunflower seeds.

Those three scamps,
one as inquisitive as a young sleuth,
join me in wishing you a new year filled
with possibilities for growth in the human spirit.

May you enter the new year merrily
and come to its end in good health,
your lives enriched with friendship
and your spirits enfolded
in the Holy Oneness of All Creation.

You and I,
the three felines observing me type,
and all your cherished animals
are part of that Oneness.
We are the essence of One.

Peace as ever and always.
Amen.



Postscript: I won’t be posting next Sunday as a friend is coming to visit. Deborah and I met when we arrived at Mount Saint Scholastica College in 1954 as bemused freshmen. After our sophomore year, she entered the Mount convent. Two years later, after graduation, I entered. I stayed only eight and a half years, but she has stayed all this time—fifty-six years now. We have remained good friends and the prospect of her visit makes me just a little giddy! Peace.

21 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing your favorite Christmas music, Dee! Both songs are wonderful! Have a lovely visit with Deborah. Having a chance to spend time this holiday season with such a good, long-time friend is a true gift!

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    1. Dear Kathy, both of those carols simply fill me with the wonder of this season. Deborah is such a good friend and we've known one another through so many vicissitudes of life. Her visit is a real gift to me me this. May your Christmas be filled with the warmth of friendship and the small miracles that bring wonder into our lives. Peace.

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  2. I hope you and your long-time friend have a beautiful Christmas.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Dear Janie, I'll be thinking of you while Deborah is here because we hope to go to three movies!!!! There are so many good ones out right now. I'd love to see "Les Mis" as well as "Lincoln" again and "The Life of Pi" and "Flight" and "The Hobbit."
      And abundance of riches!!!!! Have a lovely Christmas and thanks once again for ordering four copies of "A Cat's Life." I'm always so delighted when new people meet Dulcy. So thank you for that lovely gift this year. Peace.

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  3. Happy holidays! ;-) I hope you'll have a ball with Deborah.

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    1. Dear EC, I plan to! We are going to go to at least two and possible three movies!!!!
      Peace.

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  4. Both of the songs were new to me--I loved them both! MERRY CHRISTMAS to you & Deborah!!!

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    1. Dear Fishducky, I'm glad you enjoy the carols. They've been favorites of mine for many years--ever since someone gave me a Christmas gift of James Galway's "Christmas Carols" on an audio cassette. That was in the 1980s. He plays the flute and accompanies "The Shepherd's Pipe Song" so gloriously! Happy Holidays and may your new year be filled with an abundance of health! Peace.

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  5. What lovely Christmas greetings! I hope yours is as warm and friendly and full of love as it can be and that you and your friend have a wonderful time together~

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    1. Dear Shelly, I am so grateful that I have the money to pay my utility bills so that the cats and I are warm and toasty here in our home. And they are glad that I can also buy their canned food and kibble!!! Life is good.

      Thank you for the Christmas greetings. I hope your Christmas is also warm and friendly and full of the wonder of love. Peace.

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  6. Wishing you peace and joy at Christmas and throughout the year to come, dear Dee. Enjoy your friend's visit.

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    1. Dear Perpetua, thank you for the Christmas greeting and may you enjoy great and good and lasting health in the new year and the miracle of deep and abiding love. Peace.

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  7. Merry Christmas, Dee. You are such a dear person and it has been a joy to get to know you with each post you write.

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    1. Dear Arleen, getting to know you through your blog has been more than "okay!!!!!" with me! I find your thoughts about cats and snakes and Christmas trees and your grandchildren to be wonderfully enthusiastic about the life you live and share with us. Peace.

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  8. What a wonderful Christmas Greeting. I hope that yours, and the year to come are full of love and magic. Starting of course with your friends visit.

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    1. Dear EC, may you too enjoy the gift of friendship this Christmas season and the wonder of the small miracles sprinkled through our lives. Peace.

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  9. I don't think I have heard either one of these Christmas songs, but they are both lovely. Karma and I wish you a merry, merry Christmas and enjoy your visit!! :):)

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    1. Dear Rita, the two songs were not part of my growing up. I first heard them when someone gave me an audio cassette back in 1982 with many lovely English carols on it.

      Tomorrow, on my coming home blog, I'm going to post another of my favorite carols. It's one I'm sure you've heard and I'm sure that you like it as much as I do!
      Merry Christmas and joyous new years. Peace.

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  10. Beautiful! I love the songs, and also find them very meaningful. I do hope your visit with Deborah is full and enriching. What a wonderful way to move into the New Year. Blessings, Dee!

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    1. Dear Debra, I'm glad you liked the songs. Deborah will be here shortly. We plan on viewing three movies while she's here: "Les Miserables," "The Life of Pi," and either "The Hobbit" or "Flight" or " Silver Linings." Much to look forward to. Peace ever and always and thank you for your blessing.

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  11. I love these carols, too, Dee. We are so lucky here to have a wonderful choir with a tradition of singing the old music... I am reading this so long after Christmas and wish I'd been better at catching up with you. Christmas for me this past year, was tiring and stressful and your posts would have brought me some much needed Christmas spirit. I think I'll mark them down in my diary and re-read for Christmas 2013!

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