Christmas Tinged with Sadness

 

I just read an article about a woman whose husband would set up the tree and dress up as Santa. But not only did she lose him to Covid19, but her mother and aunt, as well. "I can't get myself to do it. I end up crying before I touch any of the ornaments," Maribel Rodriguez says.

Since the virus has hit the world in early 2020, such sad stories have been regular reads. Imagining those, who have lost their loved ones, trying to celebrate the holidays with empty chairs, is so sad. We all have lost a brother, or a sister, mother or father, and the loss can be difficult. But the inability to hold or kiss an ill or dying loved one is unfathomable. 

I pray next Christmas will find us celebrating together in a more humane and natural way. And that the world will, once again, live as one. 

Let's count our blessings, no matter how small, or large. 

10 Quotes About the Holidays 

1. "What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace." - Agnes M. Pahro

 

2. "Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love."- Hamilton Wright Mabie 

 

3. "It's not what's under the Christmas tree that matters, it's who's around it." - Charlie Brown 

 

4. "Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand, and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home." - Edith Sitwell 

 

5. "Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind." - Mary Ellen Chase 

 

6. "Mankind is a great and immense family. This is proved by what we feel in our hearts at Christmas." - Pope John XXIII

 

7. "The joy of brightening other lives becomes for us the magic of the holidays."

- W. C. Jones 

 

8. "May you never be too old to search the skies on Christmas eve." - Unknown

 

9. "Give thanks for a little, and you will find a lot." - Hausa Proverb 

 

10. "My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?" - Bob Hope