Because my husband has French ancestors, he has always signed my Christmas cards with Joyeux Noel. But, it doesn’t matter which language we speak as we take the time to wish each other hope, peace, love and joy this December.
What an unusual year it has been with the pandemic and social/political unrest. Yet, there have been pockets of joy in my life, which I hope you, too, were able to find. My son just had hernia surgery, and so he is home with us recuperating. I love his presence at the table for meals, or how we read to each other each night by the tree, despite the pain that he must go through to heal.
I stop to count the happy bits of 2020, which include walks at Herrick Lake, coffee and laughter with my parents, tea parties in the pergola, birthday celebrations on the patio, being able to worship in church. There have been endless hours to read this year, although not this month (and I look forward to sharing more literature together in 2021). What we have been denied, only makes me appreciate what we do have all the more; there is no time that I go to the grocery store without being grateful for full shelves so unlike what I saw last March.
My theme for this Christmas, for the year to come, is found in the Old Testament:
And He shall be our peace.
Micah 5:5
I pray this peace for us, for today, for our new year. May we find peace in Him, for it is not to be found anywhere else.
I wish you a very Merry Christmas.
merry christmas
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For a variety of reasons, this has turned out to be one of my best Christmas days ever. Despite very real concerns in the larger world, I’m infinitely grateful for the gifts that have come my way — including the gift of your blog. I still have a certain little origami star on my Christmas tree!
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Happy Christmas and here’s to a better 2021.
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Thank you for “ordering” my priorities. To be reminded once again who is the King of Peace, mine and this old worlds too. mjh
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Thank you for the reminder. I only wish all could be as fortunate as I am.
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Merry Christmas and I hope your son will get better soon.
Let’s hope 2021 gets better.
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I’m glad to hear your son is recuperating and with you this holiday. It has been one of the strangest years ever but like you, I’ve been counting the many blessings I’ve had. Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!
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Merry Christmas to you. I feel very fortunate this year and am thankful I made the decision to repatriate in June 2019 — it seemed like a foolish thing to do at the time after 20 years in London — because I now live in what must be the safest place in the world right… we are essentially covid free. My wish is that the rest of the world can experience this in 2021 xx
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Merry Christmas, Bellezza.
I hope your son will feel better soon
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Merry Christmas, and so nice that you and your son can read together as he heals.
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peace of Christ to you
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This was such a strange Christmas. It didn’t feel like Christmas and now I can’t believe it has passed. I hope you had a nice holiday.
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Still only the Ninth Day of Christmas here, so I feel good about saying, MERRY CHRISTMAS, Bellezza! God is with us!
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Somehow I missed this post, so a belated Merry Christmas to you, my dear friend. I hope you had a lovely day. A good friend of ours just had surgery for a hernia and my mother had one (an umbilical hernia) this past fall. I hope your son is feeling better, but how nice to have him home with you as he recovered.
Like you, I tried to look for the positive in 2020, although at times it was difficult. Not impossible, but not always easy. Let’s hope for a year of peace and safety, shall we?
xoxo
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Look at the common surgeries in our homes lately, from shoulders to hernias! I am grateful they are behind us. I hope your Christmas was merry, too. Ours was small, but peaceful, and I am so glad to have my parents with me, in addition to my husband and son. I do hope for safety and peace for all of us, for 2021, and send my love, dear Lesley.
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