Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I will be on a blogging break for a while in order to spend time with my family. I hope the new year brings many blessings to you all.

Family Tree

Family Tree

Take a look at your Christmas tree.
Is yours, like ours, a family history?
Bits of our lives adorn each limb,
scattered among the lights and trim.

Here's an ornament celebrating 
our first Christmas together.
It was such a cold day, with snowy, wintry weather,
but we were warm and cozy inside,
secure in the knowledge that our love would abide.

It wasn't long until our family grew.
We added baby's first Christmas ball in little boy blue.
In a few short years, we added another.
Another blue ornament for a little brother.

Next came handmade treasures
that were made at church and at school.
Bits of ribbon, paper, and glitter
became happy art marking each new yule.

Our hobbies and sports are there on the tree too,
along with the things we love and the things we do.
There are baubles to honor anniversaries and vacations 
that we fondly remember,
and all of these memories come back to us
when the tree goes up each December.

Fragile bits of blown glass from the old five and dime
remind us of another place and another time.
These were left to us by the previous generation. 
They give us reason for reminiscing and contemplation.

Symbols of our faith, are, of course, represented too.
Angels, shepherds, and stars remind us to give proper due
to the real reason for the season, 
the reason we gather around that family tree:
to celebrate the light and love given to us 
that began with the birth of the blessed Baby.

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My poetry book, Rainbow Chaser, is now available in ebook format for those who prefer reading on a Kindle, Nook, or other electronic device. It can be ordered from the sources below. Click on a bookstore name to be taken to that site. Thank you for ordering, and if any of you have the time and would like to leave a review of my book at the site where you purchased it, I would be extremely grateful. 

AMAZON

BARNES & NOBLE

BOOKLOCKER

ITUNES

KOBO

Ducks in a Row

Ducks in a Row

"Plan ahead. Be prepared. Be organized."

We grow up being told to get our ducks in a row,

but plans change, the unexpected happens,

and life gets messy, the further along we go.

Sometimes ducks are stolen by predators,

or they swim away, still in sight, but out of reach.

Sometimes ducks have minds of their own.

They swim in circles going nowhere, 

no matter how hard you preach.

You finally realize that some ducks can't be controlled.

So relax! 

Let them swim and quack. 

Take delight in the brilliant sheen 

of the blue and green 

of  their feathers,

and know that, one way or another, 

eventually, 

they'll get back on track,

(and so will you).