www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Monday, Dec. 31

While we cry ourselves to sleep, gratitude waits patiently to console and reassure us; there is a landscape larger than the one we can see. Sarah Ban Breathnach

a love video

Tim performed at his office party......
as part of his preparation for a solo act, he was scanning YouTube for ideas for choreography to fill a sixteen second instrumental break in the karaoke track of Jerry Herman's "We Need a Little Christmas."

While watching Angela Lansbury, Lucille Ball, Mitzi Gaynor, the Purdue University Glee Club, various amateur dance and holiday recitals, and even the Sims(!), he discovered that the instrumental break is a feature for radio (and, apparently karaoke). Most of the live shows skip right past it.

Then he found this homemade music video of the song, done by a local teenager, and starring her family.

And while the actors are self-conscious, the whole thing is done with love.

Way more sincere than the Purdue Glee Club.
When he watched it he said...."
I'm crossing my fingers that when our boys are teenagers, they have the chutzpah to do this un-ironically."

I pass it on as a tribute to all that is good in human nature and hope that families around the world can find peace and krismas love.

another view

Hi friends, I thought you might want to see the response I’ve written for the Newsweek/Washington Post On Faith site, to the question below:

"The U.S. House of Representatives approved HR 847 recognizing the importance of Christianity and Christmas. Would you have voted for this resolution? How would you amend it?
A Pagan’s Christmas Resolution
By Starhawk

Would I vote for a resolution affirming the importance and contributions of Christmas and Christianity? As my readers may have noted, I’m a Pagan, but I’d vote for such a resolution—heck, I’d even introduce it, if it went like this:

“Whereas Christians and Christianity are of undeniable importance in the world and the foundation of this country, in respect for his example and story at this time of year we make the following statements:

“Whereas Jesus Christ was born in a stable because his parents could not find shelter, and whereas in the last weeks we as a nation have allowed the destruction of the last remaining housing for the poor in New Orleans, and whereas our streets are full of the cold and the homeless, we repent of our policies and in his memory commit to housing all who wander without a roof or a welcome in our cities and our towns.

“Whereas Christ was born among the poor, lived and preached to the poor, we repent of the selfishness and shortsightedness that has failed to provide for all of our children, and commit ourselves to provide health care for all children and for all of the poor.

“Whereas Christ commanded us to ‘love our neighbors as ourselves’ we repent of the walls we have drawn across borders, the deaths of those who have tried to cross the deserts in search of a better life, the wall we have supported that cleaves the Holy Land itself in two and confiscates the farmland of the Palestinians, cleaves villages in two, and stands as a lasting monument to our failure to achieve peace, and we commit ourselves to establish justice which alone can provide true security.



“Whereas Christ has been called the Prince of Peace, we repent of our eagerness to use war and violence as the answer to every international situation, of the horrific and destructive war we have waged in Iraq which has claimed tens of thousands of lives, and we commit ourselves to a withdrawal of our armies, to a new foreign policy based on the building of relationships, not the bombing of children, and to fostering and nurturing peace.”
Anything less is just a bunch of empty words, and real Christians must be cringing at the hypocrisy.

If I may quote Jackson Browne’s beautiful song, The Rebel Jesus:

“Now pardon me if I have seemed

To take the tone of judgment

For I've no wish to come between

This day and your enjoyment

In a life of hardship and of earthly toil

There's a need for anything that frees us

So I bid you pleasure

And I bid you cheer

From a heathen and a Pagan

On the side of the rebel Jesus.”

As light is born out of darkness, may hope, love and compassion be kindled this season,

Starhawk

HAPPY SOLSTICE

Read lots more about this holiday here

words i need to hear

yesterday was a particularly hard day with pain and feeling overwhelmed with all the holiday stuff i put on myself..... i think the pain that is constant adds to the overwhelm..... 2 different people that I encountered said soft words that i needed to hear as i can be so hard on myself..
i went to postal plus at the corner to mail a package and the woman there knows me and my journey this past year as i go there instead of the post office whenever i need anything..
in the course of our conversation and her asking me how i was doing - i told her i had my tree finished and Anna Claus and angels in place and that my cards will be late and packages to my family will be late she said "Good for you for doing what makes you feel good and decorating like you want to ..."
Then off to the rheumatologist for a check up on the Polymyalgia.... we talked about the serious pain from that and the cancer prevention drug and he said" you know, you are an awesome woman...to be admired.....you inspire us - with all that is going on in your body, you just keep going!" Soft and gentle words from people who barely know me, but they just entered my heart and lifted my spirits in the moment..... I guess I need to tell myself more often how awesome I am ( of course a lot of it comes from my Taurus stubbornness and my memory of debbie reynolds in the unsinkable molly brown singing I AIN'T DOWN YET !

the pictures aren't great but give an idea of some of the decorating....

www.gratefulness.org
WORD FOR THE DAY
Monday, Dec. 17

One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Oh Christmas tree....

In years gone by, i would go get my tree, drag it into the house, put it in the stand, string hundreds of lights and add lots and lots of ornaments....as the years have progressed, i now have friends help me get the tree - tim and chris get it in the stand and friends drag boxes of lights and decorations from the garage....
it's hard to realize that i cannot do it by myself, but those days are gone forever....particularly this year with the remnants of a broken shoulder, lymphedema, lots of pain an fatigue....
so i'm practicing letting go......it's very hard for me......
this past week chris got the outside lights up which so delight me....
yesterday my friend nicolas spent the day with me dragging boxes from the garage, stringing lights and decorating the tree........not much else is done but i am so happy to be able to see my tree finished.....angels and ms claus are still in the garage....
the mess left behind in the living room will take a few days to clear up but i am going to ask a friend for help.......
friends and i'm sure family wonder why i do all this decorating when i'm here alone for the holidays....but it brings me happiness and joy to be surrounded with the beautiful things i have acquired over the years.... since all former traditions have disappeared or changed, my decorated home is what i can hold onto....

check up

my oncology check ups are every 3 months and yesterday's confirmed that everything is OK.....
surgery scar is still a bit sore -normal
breasts tender - normal
fatigue is still hanging on - normal
pain from Arimidex - normal
blood work - normal
she gave me a new cancer prevention drug to replace the arimidex to see if i would have less pain -it will take a month to see if there is a change.....
good to hear that everything is "normal"even tho i still don't feel "normal"...............

holiday adventures with 3 elves

Liam, Ronan and Ben came down for an overnite adventure to work on christmas projects.....
alas the only one we finished was the cookie baking....
decorating the muppet tree, putting up the manger got sidetracked with a pretend snowball "fight" with the artificial snow that was meant for the manger setting...
once the bag was opened it was a free for all.....thankfully the packaing said non-allergenic and no chemicals....
i'll be pickig up "sowflakes" for weeks....interest spans were short for dressing the muppets and hanging ornaments as outdoors called for wagon rides, driving around the neighborhood after dark to see lights and decorations ( YES !!!!!! 3 car seats in the back seat was quite an adventure of its own !!.......) and watching holiday dvd's took up time....
it was a great time and i need to thank my sister christine for all her help....i couldn't have done it alone..... praise and blessings be to all single parents....

...and the pain goes on

i have 2 physical therapy appts a week to work on restoring strength to the shoulder i broke.... as she works on the muscles and i work on the exercises, it really hurts.... i also realize that the other shoulder that i broke 2 years ago hasn't healed because the therapy was done poorly....so it i'm very sore. i have tight knots and pain in my neck and shoulder blades as they are connected to the injured shoulders. add the pain of the polymyalgia and the side effects of Arimidex which are listed as: Anxiety; Back, bone, breast, joint, pelvic pain; flu-like symptoms (tiredness; muscle aches); headache; hot flashes; sleeplessness; weakness.....
and i spend the days and nights in a lot of pain and am pretty weak. I did manage to buy my christmas tree yesterday with the help of home depot staff and my friend who has a truck....it's laying on its side on the walkway waiting for christopher to put it in the stand - a task i once could do alone.......and wish i could still do...
it's so very hard to have to ask and wait for help....

Remembering

You have to remember to make it all over again every day, the angel said to me.
Otherwise it goes all to hell.

http://www.storypeople.com/