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.
