IHOP Girl: Merry Christmas to All!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Merry Christmas to All!

I'm rather uninspired to write something long and drawn out today, but I wanted to say a quick Merry Christmas to you all, before my weekend of work.

I hope that whether you get to be home and with family or not, that your holiday is a blessed one. Find some ways to be with the ones you love, and to remember the greatest gift of all.

One of my favorite memories about Christmas was that dad would read the Christmas story to us. We would go to Christmas Eve service, and then once we were home we'd settle in with glasses of egg nog, and listen to dad as he read. We weren't serious often, hehe but when we were it was special.

Even this year, when we can't be together we've still found ways to enjoy the holidays as a family. I got a call last night from the parents as they were doing one of our family traditions of driving to see all the neighborhood Christmas lights. Normally as we drive we think of all the Christmas song we can, and attempt to sing them. Dad sings off key on purpose, and mom harmonizes...even amidst dad's racket ;-). Usually the sis and I would just end up rolling in laughter in the back of the van. We even make up words to the songs to fit our jokes. Such was the case last night. I got the full description of lights as they drove, and we even had some carol singing over the phone. It was so fun!!!

That said - Merry Christmas!!! Thank you for being a part of this blog for another year. May Jesus bless you, keep you, and bring you closer to him this next year!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...: Nice Christmas song!
Yes - geographical distances are difficult at Christmas, but technology helps us "be together" anyway...Thal's singing and creative license during our annual Christmas lights drive definitely took the cake this year! I'm sure he'll have something humorous to say about it.
Love and hugs,
WOT; 10:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Oh what a nice story.

Too bad it never happened. We actually were speaking a carefully written coded message given us by your alien-human hybrid developers. They demanded we say and do everything we did in order to set your mental codes ensuring lifelong dedication to your mission. So you see there is nothing you can do but fulfill your mission, all that matters is your mission. *beep*

hew!; 10:10 AM
Clair Bannerman (alias) said...: You're weird...not that that is new...

Enjoy your cherry bread - I'm jealous!; 10:25 AM
Anonymous said...: cherry loaf?

did you say cherry loaf?

where is my cherry loaf? *snif**snif*

me no see no cherry loaf around here...

*sigh*; 1:11 PM

Movie Night In...I love a good movie!

Mega Mind
Taking Chance (Will make you cry like a baby)
Charlotte Grey (A bit of a different take on Nazi Germany)
Series - Merlin (I LOVE BBC)
Robin Hood (Okay, a love Russell Crowe, you'll have to understand that about me...)
Kingdom of Heaven (Chuck full of acting power with an epic tale)
Miss Potter (Such a great film! Story of the creator of Peter Rabbit)
How to Train your Dragon (Possibly my favorite animated movie ever...I'm like a little kid, I watch it over and over)
Buck (Sundance winner, Biography of Horse Trainer, heart touching)
Lost in Austin (Modern day spin on Pride and Prej.)

Life as a nurse...

Great words by Reb Jeff: Vayishlach: Facing Death

"Rachel died. She was buried on the road to Ephrat — now called Bethlehem. Jacob set up a pillar above her grave. It is the pillar at Rachel’s grave to this day."–Genesis 35:19-20

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidui http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva_(Judaism), and preparing the notifications to the community, feel like little fragments of the sacred. I have been entrusted with the care and tending of the most powerful, complex and difficult emotions that a person can experience in life. I have been made, in some small part, a guardian of the memory of a departed soul — a life that touches upon many other lives.After dropping off my older daughter at her high school this morning, I made a stop at Treasure Coast Hospice http://www.tchospice.org/, a remarkable organization that sets a very high standard for the loving and respectful care of the dying. There, I visited a lovely man whom I have seen a few times in his hospice room. I sat by his bedside and listened to him (in full possession of his faculties) as he told me about his worries about his family, the support of his wife after he is gone, and the future of his children and grandchildren. I was deeply moved by the way he put any concern for himself — even while facing death — in a distant backseat to his concerns for his family. When my own time comes, I can only hope to have his awareness of the way that one life can touch so many others.Also at hospice, I visited a woman I have known for the past two years — a dear soul who is a former Jewish religious school director. I sat with her, too, singing psalms to her as I listened to her heavy and labored breathing. I have no medical training, but I have come to know the sound of a person who is close to death. The body begins to fight for each breath as it slowly looses it grasp on life. As I held her hand and sang, I realized that being a rabbi is no protection against becoming one of the people caught in the web of connection. I, too, am changed by the loss of a life that has touched mine.Later in the day, I met with a couple from our congregation. She had just learned that her brother died yesterday in a car crash. Coming to terms with the loss is made more difficult for her by the fact that she and her brother had not seen each other or spoken in five years. Sometimes, people think it is easier to mourn the death of someone who has moved out of your life. In my experience, though, it's harder. Grief is magnified by wounded love and regret. I have no magic words to say to ease the pain of mourning. All I can do is listen, become a vessel in which people place their stories, and offer compassion.Actually, there is one more thing I can do. I can have faith that "all I can do" is all that I need to do. It is enough.In this week's Torah portion (Vayishlach) Jacob watched Rachel, the love of his life, die in childbirth. He was overcome by grief. Jacob had worked for his cruel uncle Laban for fourteen years to earn the right to marry Rachel. Now she was gone. Because she died while they were traveling, Jacob had to bury her by the side of the road. He built a pillar of stones on the spot to mark the place as sacred.This is what we all do, in one way or another, when death enters our lives. We grieve and our hearts break. We wish that we could continue to walk along the path of life with our loved ones forever, but the dead cannot fully join us. We have to leave something behind in order to resume our own journey. So, what do we do? We mark the moment as sacred. We erect monuments — both in cemeteries and in our hearts. The stones we place on top of stones remind us that a life may end, but its sanctity is forever.The Torah says that the monument Jacob built for his beloved continues to stand until this day. A life that touches the lives of others never ceases to send living reverberations throughout the web that binds us all.