what gift will you give?

 

Why, certainly. Help yourself...

 

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." When Dickens wrote this line, he wasn't referring to Christmastime...but he could have been. He was writing in the 1800s, but he could have been writing today. This is the beauty of literature...the concepts and context of great storytelling endure across generations. Common themes repeat themselves. We realize we are connected in our joy and sorrow, victory and defeat, pleasure and pain with the rest of humanity all across time and space. 

 

"Across galaxies of time and space,

Travelling just to see your face,

Lost amidst the countless stars

To bring me back to where you are."

~Bryce Anderson~

 

This year, I hope your Christmas is among the best of times. Full of childlike delight and eager anticipation. Alive with bright lights and beautiful music. Inspired with gift-giving and gratitude. Personally, I hope you have a real tree this year, and I hope it snows for you...silent, and deep, and gentle. Mostly, I hope you and the people you love are healthy, that they can be home with you, that your story has a happy ending...

 

"Not to spoil the ending for you,

but everything is going to be okay."

~https://quotess.net~

 

...because, for some, this Christmas will be the worst of times. Some of us are mourning the loss of a loved one. Some are struggling to put gifts under the tree and food on the table. Some are ill. Some alone. Some at war. I could go on.

People everywhere long for an end to suffering, for healing, for peace. 

Go ahead. Ask them what they want for Christmas. What gift will you bring?

A Gift to Bring You

~Rumi~

"You have no idea how hard I've looked

for a gift to bring you.

Nothing seemed right.

What's the point of bringing gold to the gold mine,

or water to the ocean.

Everything I came up with 

was like taking spices to the Orient.

It's no good giving my heart and soul

because you already have these.

So I've brought you a mirror. 

Look at yourself and remember me."

*

I wish you enough.

 

 jan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 



deep peace to you

~Hello, Winter~

By now, my family and friends are probably tired of hearing me wish them a Merry White Christmas. To them a snowy Christmas means that guests may not make it in time for the festivities. The kids might not get home. It means getting snarled up in traffic as they scramble to pick up the last gift or two. They may not make it to the grocery store.

www.townandcountryshuffle.com

 

I get it...but still, I love winter and I would give anything for a white Christmas. Why?

"It is the hope of the crystal,

the architect of the flake,

the fire of the frost,

the soul of the sunbeam.

This crisp winter air is full of it."

~John Burroughs~

 

 

*

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep..."

~Robert Frost~

 

 

*

"When I no longer thrill to the first snow of the season.

I'll know I'm growing old."

~Lady Bird Johnson~

 

 

*

"I prefer winter and fall--

when you can feel the bone structure of the landscape--

the loneliness of it--

the dead feeling of winter.

Something waits beneath it.

The whole story doesn't show."

~Andrew Wyeth~

 

*

"When snow falls,

nature listens."

~Antoinette von Kleeff~

 

www.minnesota.publicradio.org

*

"I am younger each year at the first snow.

When I see it, suddenly, in the air

all little and white and moving,

then I am in love again and

I believe everything."

~Ann Sexton~

 

~ attribution unknown~

 

 Do you celebrate the solstice? Are you at peace? Deep peace?

~Happy Winter Solstice~

"Deep peace of the winter solstice to you.

Deep peace of the falling snow to you.

Deep peace of the love of friends to you.

Deep peace of the gentle deer to you.

Deep peace of the moon and stars to you."

~author unknown~

~attribution unknown~

jan





 

be prepared for something amazing to happen

 

What is one thing you'd like to receive this Christmas even though you know you won't be getting it? A new car? A cruise? A winning lottery ticket?

Well, even though it breaks my inner child's heart, I know I won't be getting snow for Christmas this year. This is a huge disappointment because I grew up on a Christmas tree farm in the snow belt (meaning...we got belted with snow!) south of Buffalo, NY. "Snow" was my middle name as a child. Deep, fluffy white snow in drifts up to my waist for five months out of the year. Snow for building forts. Snow for sledding and skiing. Snow for Christmas Day. Without fail.

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

just like the ones I used to know."

~Irving Berlin~

When you think about it, all the classic children's stories about Christmas take place up North--from "T'was the Night Before Christmas", to "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", to "A Christmas Carol", to "The Polar Express."

And, who can forget the snowy winter scenes in our favorite Christmas movies--"Home Alone", "Elf", "It's a Wonderful Life", and "Miracle on 34th Street"--as well as the Currier and Ives prints depicting the season?

www.fineartamerica.com

I mean, who pictures palm trees, sand, and surf when they think of Christmas? I always thought Southerners must feel as if their Christmas was somehow less than authentic...when the real spirit of the holiday resides up North.

My inner child would still love to wake up to snow on Christmas morning, but that's not what's really important to me. I would trade it all in if I could wake up to world peace on Christmas Day. If we could shelter, feed, and clothe every refugee family, and put an end to homelessness and world hunger while we're at it. I would welcome a Christmas without snow if it meant the sick and suffering could find healing and comfort. If cruelty, blame, and hatred disappeared forever. If war were banished from Mother Earth for all eternity.

Of course, I would gladly settle for a lot less than that. I would trade in a white Christmas if it meant  that someone who has lost hope could experience healing. If someone who is lonely could enjoy companionship for the day. If a homeless family were provided with shelter, warmth, and a good meal. 

If one life was spared because the snow didn't fall, I would rejoice...because the things I want for Christmas aren't really things at all.

"The most important things in life

aren't things."

~Anthony J. D'Angelo~

I wish everyone could be happy at Christmastime. That everyone had hope. That everyone was at peace. It's hard to know what to do for those who aren't. What good are presents when pain is the problem?

When this happens, I am left to reflect on what I think would be helpful to me if the tables were turned:

If I were sick, if I were the one receiving chemo, or struggling against pain, I would want a friend at my bedside.



Don't bring me presents. Don't bother with fuzzy pink slippers or flowers or food...unless, of course, it makes you happy...in which case, bring it on! Even though it's your presence I need.

If I were grieving the loss of a loved one--a parent, or one of my children, or my best friend--I would want you to sit at the kitchen table with me and share stories--the sweet, funny, poignant moments that we enjoyed with them. I'll brew the tea. You bring the cookies.

"Your story matters

more than you can know."

~S.A.D. Australia~

If my house turned to rubble in a storm, or I lost my job, or my marriage went south, I would need you to hold me up, to cheer me on, to shelter me if it came to that. Don't say, "Call me if you need anything." I would need everything and I wouldn't have the strength to pick up the phone and ask for it. Just come. Sit. Stay.

~www.weheartit.com

  

One of the best presents we can give is exactly that--our presence. Our halting, not-sure-what-to-do-or-say presence. Our I'll-be-here-for-you-no-matter-what friendship. Our I-wish-I-could-do-more-for-you selves. Tied with a bow.

If Christmas with your family is happy, loving, and peaceful, I wish you a merry one.

If not, I wish you hope. Strength. Friendship. Beauty. Time. Snow if you like it…sunshine if you don’t.

One thing I've learned about this time of the year is this:

"Always be prepared for something
amazing to happen."
~Melanie Perkins~

jan

the lost art of hunkering down

 

Today would have been a perfect day to hunker down against the massive winter storm that has been working its way across the country for the past couple of days...except it never got here. In keeping with the current trend in climate change, it fizzled out somewhere over Tennesee, leaving behind a path of destruction and heartbreak instead of fluffy white snow. We got a little rain.

I wish...

The art of hunkering is something I learned as a child growing up in the snow belt south of Buffalo. In fact, my hometown made the news last week because of the heavy bands of snow that blew in off Lake Erie and blanketed the area. In the good olde days, when 30 inch snow falls and temperatures in the -25 degree range were commonplace, we learned to hunker down for weeks at a time. We laid in supplies and food. Dusted off the snow shovels. Ordered in extra coal for the furnace. Often we were stranded for days on end because the plows couldn't get through.

"I wonder if the snow

loves the fields and trees,

that it kisses them so gently."

~Lewis Carroll~

So...hunkering down is easy for me. It brings back happy memories of a warm, cozy house and a welcoming kitchen, evenings spent reading or playing Scrabble, and heavy kettles of homemade soup.

Not that we spent much of our time indoors as children. Bad weather never kept us inside. We built snow forts and tunnels. We filled the yard with snow angels. We struggled through the drifts hauling sleds up the hill. We tested the ice on the creek. There is nothing quite as sweet as hunkering down for bad weather and then going out in it...

...because it sets you up to enjoy it as an adult.

Today I filled the bird feeders and counted three deer and a couple of gray foxes in the woods out back. I mailed Christmas cards and sent off a couple of packages. I finished decorating inside and out. I started "Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine" by author and theoretical physicist Alan Lightman, and, as well, a book of poetry by Mary Oliver.

"The snow began here this morning

and all day continued,

its white rhetoric everywhere

calling us back to

why, how, whence such beauty,

and what the meaning."

~Mary Oliver~

I would have preferred hunkering down for a good old-fashioned snow storm, but we didn't get one. 

The point is this:

 

If you write, you need to be able to hunker down with it. For me, this means stocking up on coffee, good red wine, and dark chocolate. It means turning a blind eye to the dust bunnies when they take over the house, and it involves letting the laundry pile up. It may require missing lunch with friends and backing off at the gym. It definitely means long hours of solitude punctuated with frustration, impatience, and insecurity...long hours of reading and writing in silence. Long hours of peace and quiet.

"I pray this week

be gentle and kind,

a season of rest from

the wheel of the mind."

~John Geddes~



...which is why I'm glad I know how to hunker properly. I'm working on a book.

 

Do you have a routine you follow to prepare for bad weather? Do you enjoy your solitude? How do you get ready to start a new project?

"So you see, imagination needs moodling--

long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling,

and puttering."

~Brenda Ueland~



Hunkering and moodling. Good stuff.

jan

the willing suspension of disbelief

 

If you enjoy reading fiction, you know how careful the author must be to include details that make the story believable. He has to create realistic characters. He has to build a world that you, as the reader, can visualize and understand. What happens there must be consistent and plausible given the story line. Even so, he may be asking you to suspend disbelief...to accept the fact that dinosaurs can coexist with astronauts, for example, or that extinct creatures can come back to life, or that his hero's superpower is mental telepathy.

"A piece of writing has to seduce the reader.

It has to suspend disbelief and

earn the reader's trust."

~ Po Bronson~

On the other hand, nonfiction writers need to focus on the facts and communicate them with accuracy and clarity. Interestingly, this may also require the reader to suspend disbelief, especially if the writer is presenting new discoveries that challenge the old...for example, recent observations and speculation about the immensity and complexity of the cosmos. How viruses mutate. How we can hear a multiplicity of sounds, including each one's volume and pitch, how we discern harmony and melody, and how they can evoke emotion or change your mood...all at the same time. Beautiful music. An approaching storm. A childhood lullaby. When you pause to think about it, it's hard to imagine. In fact, it's hard to believe much of what we are learning about how the human body functions. And how it heals.

Advances in modern medical technology have made it possible for us to observe and to understand, for the first time, how the human body takes care of itself. How it fights off infection. How a bruise just fades away. How a broken bone heals. The fact that a patient recovers after a heart attack or a stroke is enough to challenge anyone's concept of reality. Still, that's the easy part.

"The body is a remarkable mystery, 

capable of untold feats 

of self-preservation and healing."

~J. Upledger~

Every day we learn more about how the body sustains and heals itself without any conscious awareness, attention, or effort on our part. Meaning that much of what the body does to keep itself healthy, and much of what it takes to heal, is under subconscious control.

We have long recognized the "placebo effect." This is observed when, unbeknownst to the patient, he is "prescribed" a sugar pill by his physician, but he recovers just as he would had he been given s proven drug. This is believed to happen because the patient trusts his doctor, and he believes he is getting a real medication that is known to work for his condition. He expects to get better. In other words, healing depends on the patient's conscious beliefs about it.

"Your body's ability to heal is greater

than anyone has permitted you to believe."

~Attribution unknown~

And then there's this: Diabetes has subsided and skin lesions have disappeared under hypnosis, suggesting there is an unconscious component to healing. This has been shown to correlate with the patient's belief that healing is occurring because of the hypnotic suggestion that it is. Just the thought of it.

And this: Patients with Multiple Personality Disorder have been observed to change not only their voices and mannerisms as they morph into different personalities, but to change their eye color as well. Scars observed in one personality can disappear as another personality emerges. This is accompanied by changes in their EEG, suggesting that the mind is intrinsically involved in the transformations that are observed.

We don't yet know how that happens, but in medicine, as in writing, it requires the willing suspension of disbelief to even imagine it.

"It is now life and not art

that requires the willing suspension

of disbelief."

~Po Bronson~

jan