Tag Archives: Christmas movies and books

December 1, 2013 · 8:54 pm

It’s different this year…

I knew it would be, but I didn’t think it would be so hard. I think it started when thoughts became reality: this would be the first Christmas in which I would hear no music. Earlier this summer when I gave my cd’s away, the facts were there, but not the season. I am glad I gave when I did…but now it is starting to settle in–Christmas in Silence. Oh, believe me, I sing in my head like a 24 hour radio station, but it’s not quite the same.

There is still joy in the start of December. I am just navigating my way around some “lumps of coal:” some ‘differences’ between Christmas present and Christmas pasts.

Eleven years ago, my Christmas season was not so ordinary either. Between my diagnosis on November 18, 2002 to my first major surgery December 18, 2002–I had missed most of school but still completed my assignments, sat for hours in waiting rooms and bright-colored hospital rooms at Denver Children’s in which I met a whole team of doctors that talked to me about everything that I did not even grasp or understand and still tried to do fun seasonal traditions with my youth group and family.

Then I had my surgery. I think my biggest worry was thinking I would not make it home in time for Christmas. Like I said, I did not (at that point) fathom the seriousness of the surgery and its possible effects nor even living the rest of my life with this disease. I cried more about missing school than fearful emotions (nerd, I know.) The day of the surgery, my pastor and his wife joined my parents and myself in the waiting area. They had brought some gifts from their boys and the youth group. One was a stuffed chicken that played music and danced, “The Chicken Dance” song. For some strange reason this was huge for us back then.

At first, it was just us in the room. Then a couple and a with a small boy, maybe aged 4, joined us. Making casual conversation, they told us that the boy’s name was Gabriel. That is all I know, but I can still see his face when we showed him the dancing chicken. It was silent joy of the season. I saw him a few days later when my sister and I went downstairs to do the craft of the day. Gabriel’s dad was pulling him in a red wagon; my sister was pushing me in a wheelchair.

The craft was a folded photo book. They had loads of Christmas stickers and markers. I just used stickers. I still have the little booklet; It holds five of my favorite pictures from that hospital experience. And I was discharged on Christmas Eve.

scan0001 Note: the reindeer antler headband!

Present day–my handwriting is down to minimal use. My few Thanksgiving cards were simple (I liked it that way.) I knew my Christmas cards would have to be too. Wanting a different but fun greeting card to accompany my picture and “<3 Mel” signature, I decided on stickers. I got twelve cards done and noted how it was like a OT exercise to my fingers. I cried because on a card I messed up my signature and smiley face so bad I was going to throw it away. Mom and Dad said I should still send it. It is not about my signature, smiley face or stickers–it is about bringing joy to my family and friends this season. I need to focus my own joy on that aspect as I finish my cards this week.

It’s only December 1st. I don’t think gratitude should be limited to the month of November. I have much to be thankful for even in the different physical circumstances. Not all is different: Already this upcoming weekend, I have fun holiday events that I plan to attend with my family. Christmas movies have captions and I realized that I can still enjoy the Nutcracker ballet even if I don’t hear the music. Ballet is beautiful. Tis the season for a good cup of peppermint mocha, gingerbread cookies and peanut brittle; carolers, classic Christmas novels by the fireplace, and trees decorated with lights and special ornaments; snow, parties with friends or family, and the times of solitude.

It is the season of giving, the most wonderful time of the year, the joy that is ours in remembering the greatest gift of all:

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6 ESV

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November 26, 2013 · 10:46 am

From the Inside Out

I was really tempted this morning to come in the kitchen singing a Christmas song or two…after all, I am cozy warm in my extra-large sweatshirt, featuring the Grinch putting the antler on his dog Max.

GrinchAndDoghttp://lh4.ggpht.com/

And we got a blanket of snow last night. Not much, but it covers the ground and the way I figure, it will linger as the temperatures show no sign of much warmth and the sun is nowhere to be found. Snow–just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday travels. It always seems to happen that way. Maybe it is coming from living in Colorado for most of my life, but I would rather have a grey day with snow over just a dull day (though I love rain too.) Snow brightens the grey….have you ever noticed this? It is like nature’s fluorescent lights to the darkness; It is beautiful.

I sit here at the kitchen table, coffee freshly brewed (no grinds today!) and gaze out the kitchen windows towards the trees at the end of the farmer’s property. The bald branches that normally go un-noticed after the leaves fall are now outlined with bold white streaks that reveal how far they stretch. Just a few minutes ago, there were birds bouncing around on the end of the patio–another sign to me that winter is nearing…time to get bird seed! I look forward to watching them take shelter in the butterfly bush outside my window.

I am not sure what these little birds were doing today, but in my mind I thought, “They should be safe,” as I see Muffy sitting in his patio chair on his warm green blanket with his paws tucked in tight under his winter-coated furry belly. I had just fed him anyway. No sooner as I think this, I see a dash of black race across the snow-coated patio; then three birds flutter off in the sky. Snow doesn’t give much camouflage coverage for Muffy’s black fur. I think he felt defeated; he turned around and retraced his tracks in the paw prints he had just made during his dash. In his pathetic cuteness, I couldn’t help but smile at the morning action. He is now back inside his little house, where no doubt it is warm on the inside.

As much as I love different aspects of the winter months, there are others that I am not so fond of–mostly the early darkness, ice and the way my hands quit functioning when they are blistering cold. I would rather view winter from the inside out–where it is light and warm. My morning readings this past week have been through parts of the Old Testament: King Saul, David and Solomon, the Chronicles of the kings and prophets that followed, and the exile/return of the Israelites to Jerusalem. You start to notice a reoccurrence of the major problem in these passages–the attitude, desire and focus of the heart.

From the outside, no one sees the heart physically. But you can see the heart from the inside out. When I think only on the darkness, ice and cold around me (metaphorically speaking), my actions most often reflect my heart: my attitude gets grumpy, my desires turn selfish, and my focus is not on the Lord. But God sends little reminders to remain in His Love; and today it is the snow–it has restarted to fall…not in mass amounts, but one snowflake at a time.

Love of my life, carry me to Your Light

Every breath that I breathe

All of me…

Snow falling light, tumbling down

Soft and white, it’s so clean

Such a sweet rhapsody

All of me

“All of Me.” Performed by B. B. Winans. My Utmost for His Highest. Word Music, 1996.

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December 6, 2012 · 11:23 pm

“Hey! Merry Christmas, Mr. Potter!”

Yeah, probably one of my favorite lines from Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. Filmed in 1946, just timeless family classic. Growing up, we had a family tradition to watch Jim Henson’s The Muppet Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve after the church services and It’s a Wonderful Life on New Year’s Eve. Yes, it is a story that takes place on Christmas Eve, but the message always brought in a great ring to the New Year (“Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.”) No traditions seemed to be any greater than those two.

Yesterday, I had an eye appointment with the neuro ophthalmologist to see how my optic nerves are doing. I had another visual field test and everything seems to be going the direction that they are wanting. The plan is just to stay on the medicine they prescribed for me last appointment and have another follow-up appointment in February. On our way home from Cincinnati, Mom and I stopped by a Barnes and Nobles there in one of the suburbs. I did not have to have my eyes dilated so imagine the ecstatic feeling that I was having. 🙂 We synchronized our cell phone clocks and set a time limit we were for sure bound not to keep. Then we went inside. I just love books! I was not intending really to buy any, because I have been in the process of downsizing my own shelf. But as I passed by the Christmas selection table, my eyes spotted one titled, 52 Little Lessons from It’s a Wonderful Life. I had seen this book before from a trip to BN a week before Thanksgiving–it was a coffee run (Starbucks are limited around this area). But I had decided at that point to wait. Then I forgot about it.

I skimmed over the introduction by its author, Bob Welch. Fifty-two lessons for each week of the year. I bought it and started it this morning. It is like a little devotional that incorporates the lessons taught from the movie. I like it so much I decided to finish it in 52 days instead of weeks. I believe that takes me to almost the end of January. So in essence, I will still be bringing in the New Year with the movie…even if I am not watching it on New Year’s Eve.

I just wanted to share this book with you, because it is a good reminder of little lessons of faith and life that we so often forget…we turn into George Bailey without realizing it. I know I have. It is then that God sends people like Clarence to show me once again how important and special my life is and that it is worth living to the fullest.

Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?

~Clarence

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