November 2020

 LET THERE BE…..LIGHT!!!

Tis the season for…..LIGHT!  It has always been amazing to me that in the darkest time of the year, there are celebrations of LIGHT all over the world!  Perhaps these celebrations of LIGHT remind us that the darkness must always yield to the light. It is the promise that the sun comes back, bringing longer days and that Spring follows winter!

Festivals of Light permeate the month of December through many spiritual traditions, the Winter Solstice, and Kwanzaa.

*In Christianity, the start of the Advent season starts today with Advent, the preparation and anticipation of the birth of Jesus on December 25.

*In Buddhism, December 8th is the celebration of the Buddha’s Enlightenment.

*In Judaism, Hanukkah is an eight-day celebration of light representing knowledge and wisdom, and so much more, beginning on December 12.

*Winter Solstice has been celebrated for thousands of years in honor of the return of the sun, the celebration of light, and the symbolic meaning of light and wisdom.

*The holiday of Kwanzaa is a one week ethnic celebration of light starting on December 26.  

So, in the month of December, I invite you to participate with me in exploring the meaning, traditions, and ways of celebrating the Festivals of Light.  This can be a new way of bringing us closer together in the time of the global darkness of Covid.

Blessings as we start the month of December in celebration of LIGHT!  

Carolyn

This is always a sweet/sad time of year for me. Each of my parents went to Heaven in the month of November–Dad first on November 16th and Mom on November 10,16 years later.  It never surprised me they died in the same month because they were so joined at the heart and the hip!  

They had been able to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at a reunion of Mom’s family the summer before, a joyous occasion and complete surprise for Mom.  (Dad had been told so we could get Mom there on time)!

The next March after celebrating their actual anniversary on Valentine’s Day (which Mom always jokingly said she picked so he would never forget–and he didn’t!), Dad had an unrelenting 8 months of illnesses, including two different kinds of cancer.  At the end, he was transferred to a hospital 70 miles from home and I flew home that same day.

In our last time together, I suddenly asked Dad if he was afraid and as he shivered and shook from high fever, he said, “No!”  “Are you praying?!”  “Yes,” as he struggled to breathe.  And last, “Is Jesus with you, Dad?”  “Oh yes!” Dad murmured with his last strength.  He so loved Jesus.  That has comforted me through the years.

Mom lived another 16 years, struggling with widowhood, illnesses, and finally being in a nursing home.  She faced each difficulty with grace, grit, and Barbara’s determination.  In our last visit, when asked if she was at peace, she said, “Oh yes!”  After her death as I was preparing the Story of her life, she came to me and told me, “You can do whatever you want.”(Meaning for her funeral which she had told me when alive she would come back and haunt me if I changed any of what she planned!)   

“I am with Dad now so I do not care!”  

And so, her vision of Heaven had come true!  Dad had built a cabin with rocking chairs on the front porch and they were rocking their way into Heaven! 

Wedding Day 2/14/1947 Last photo together before their passing

LOVE YOU FOREVER MOM AND DAD! 

-Carolyn