Monthly Archives: December 2008

The New Year commences as a glassy pool.  The ripples I make in the coming year will radiate throughout my life, family, perhaps beyond.  I pray the ripples I make honor God, benefit more than myself, and leave the pool a marginally better place. The word resolution hangs in the air this time of year. RE:  Solution Re-solution Conceptually it offers a wealth to contemplate.  In its application, a universe to consider.  Old battles.  New battles.  No battles.  A blank slate.  A fresh page.  An open door.  Whatever I choose, may I do it well, do it honorably, do it cheerfully.  …

Restraint is one of those mounts that I expect the other person to ride. In love, war, politics, religion, or art, a little goes a long way. The holiday strains of familial challenges, too-much-fun, temptations, one-upping Currier and Ives, or the rawness of grief sometimes looses the tenuous grip I have on the reins of restraint. I slip. I slide. I fall off and stay down. The slamming shut of another year serves to remind me of the losses. But then I remember, the sun shines for me just a little longer now, each day. The winter may come in …

We break out our fake Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.  When we had ten acres of pine, cedar, and spruce, we trudged through the snow, ax in hand, and cut our own.  But here, we junk up the synthetic arbor with ornaments of glass, wood, felt, metal, photos, vinyl, baked flour, paper, feather, cotton, sugar, plastic, or leather.  Like a bird building a nest, nearly anything will do. If it can be hung on a string or hook, it goes up.  No themes.  No coordinated colors.  No apparent influence of Martha Stewart. A few years back, we bought strands …