Dad’s Christmas Legacy To Me

My Dad loved Christmas and his love for the holidays colored my childhood and has stayed with me.  He would put up the Christmas tree complete with twinkling white lights and play Christmas music throughout the holiday season and beyond.  Many times the artificial tree would stay up past little Christmas (January 6th) simply because it brought him peace and joy.

Our childhood home was full of nostalgia – precious ornaments from his childhood that he’d inherited from his parents.  Our stockings were hung by the fireplace of his childhood home where we also grew up, filled with many of his family heirlooms.  The manger we had was his parents’ and the old train which circled the tree was his childhood treasure.

I remember him sitting quietly in the living room with the only lights on being those on the tree and Christmas music playing on the stereo.  In that serenity he would relax into a calm that was enticing and I find myself often during the Christmas season doing exactly the same.  There’s something about Christmas that brings gratitude to the surface, brings magic to the air and healing to those who seek peace.

I remember his father’s favorite song was Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas which as a child, I learned to play on the piano.  My Dad would pass by as I was practicing sometimes and request it and of course, I would play it for him.  While I didn’t understand why he wanted me to play his father’s favorite carol and not his own, as an adult and a parent and missing my deceased Dad, I understand.

Christmas can be full of hustle and bustle and sometimes fraught with family plans that keep us busier than we’d like.  My remedy is simply to carve out some special quiet time to feed your soul with the goodness of love.  Hold your loved ones close.  Remember those who have passed.  Be grateful for all that you have.  Enjoy the magic of little ones and Santa, but remember the blessings that His birth has given to us.  Lift your voice to sing those carols and hymns.  Find your childhood nostalgia and feel the blessings.  Look around at those whom you encounter and smile.  Share the kindness in your heart.  Embrace those that may not have family nearby.  Open your homes and hearts.  Love finds a way to heal us all when we allow it.  Angels are everywhere – just keep looking!

May you find peace, healing, joy and hope during the Christmas season this year.  May you take the needed time to relax and to sit quietly watching the twinkling lights with a heart full of the magic of this special season.  May you find comfort in nostalgia and strolling down memory lane.  May you find the stars shine brighter for you in the night sky, twinkling their messages of love to you and yours.

May you keep your heartlights shining for all to see!

Shine On!

xo

 

 

The Year Without A Santa Claus

Heat Miser?  Snow miser?  Mother Nature?  Mrs. Claus?  Jingle and Jangle the elves along with Vixen the little reindeer who they pretend is a dog?

Does any of that ring a bell for you?  A little twinkle of nostalgia?  A little song in your heart?  It sure does to mine!

So on a Tuesday morning, let’s keep the holiday spirit bright with a little nostalgia!  And just for the record, a white Christmas would be perfect for me!

Shine On!

xo

Full Moon

Hi All!  It’s Saturday and the weekend is here.  With that big ol’ full moon showing, the beaver moon as they call it, I’m just happy and hope you are too.

As I was thinking about what to write today, the song Blue Moon came into my head.  So I had to look up that famous song by Billie Holiday and listen.  I’m reminded of the years when I worked in a restaurant that had a band.  Weekends were packed with couples dancing to older favorites like this one.

It just makes me feel like dancing when I hear this song.  Does it do the same for you?  Imagine yourself dancing with a lovely partner who knows how to dance and makes you smile and sometimes twirl on the dance floor?

I remember as a young girl watching how beautifully these couples danced together and how the sheer joy played on their faces when they moved in sync.  It’s a lost art I think for today.  One which I would love to have return.

Oh maybe I should take up ballroom dancing now too?  Then I could get my dancing fix, just like I’m getting the healing horse lessons!  Who knows?!  Maybe I’ll do that one day too and you’ll see a photo of me dancing.

Until then, enjoy Billie Holiday’s Blue Moon and imagine dancing cheek to cheek with someone special.  Have a lovely weekend!

Shine On!

xo

For the Joy of Candy Corn!

For the Joy of Candy Corn!

Like most people, I know candy corn isn’t a food group.  But there’s something special about it for me.  It’s a fond memory of autumn days gone by with my family.  My mom always had a candy dish filled with candy corn when we were little and we would just dip our hands in it from time to time, to gather a few and pop them into our mouths!  Sometimes, I would bite each section of color, savoring the artistic manner of eating! Ha!

Whenever I see candy corn now as an adult, that sweet memory returns.  The nostalgic ache of being a child when there wasn’t any worry about sugary snacks (as long as they were enjoyed in moderation!) nor of calories and the worry of extra pounds that in adulthood seem so hard to shed now.

Is there a fall treat which you relate to in a happy way?  Please share!  I’ll be passing the candy corn dish around…what will you bring to our nostalgia party?

Shine On!

xo

 

Do You Have A Case of Holiday Hiraeth?

I saw this on Facebook this morning and it struck a chord in me that I felt needed to be shared with all of you.  For at the holidays especially, there are those of us may be feeling hiraeth, but never had a word for it.  For the English language, to my knowledge, does not have a word which encompasses these feelings as hiraeth does.

So what do you do about it when you are feeling this way?  How do you go on with this feeling through holiday festivities?  My own solution is to allow the feeling, to engage in it, to acknowledge the hiraeth as it comes.  To turn ourselves into jolly merrimakers is to falsely and ineptly disengage with our souls.  To be in stillness with the feeling is to be true to ourselves and to allow hiraeth to process in our lives in order for us to heal.

I’m not saying to throw a pity party for ourselves during the festivities at all.  I’m not recommending that we pout or make others uncomfortable with our sadness.  No, not at all.  I’m suggesting that we allow ourselves the gift of hiraeth in our quiet alone time so that we can find the joy when we are celebrating the holidays.  To feel hiraeth and maybe even to share it with those willing to listen in a compassionate manner is to find the peace within us when we allow our feelings space to heal.

For there is healing in allowing hiraeth.  There is much joy to be had in life especially during the holiday season.  Allow your heartlights to shine, spread the love and understanding that you innately carry within you and reach out to others with your kind heart.  Know that I am here with you.  I understand.  I acknowledge our feelings of hiraeth and I hold them tenderly in my heart.

Bless you all this holiday season.

Shine On!

xo

 

*Gratitude to MAngel for sharing on FB so that I could see this post.