Tag: Christmas

Ma Nature drops a load on Christmas

On By Margie.MercIn Photography8 Comments

IMG_4844
Christmas was truly a day of wonder for me in my Northern Colorado city. The cold weather moved in and dumped a load of WHITE on us. If you were bundled up or snuggled up then it was a perfect day.

So, early the next morning, I started taking photos before the sun came up — the ONLY way to get good snow photos  -before others make tracks in the snow. Here are some of the scenes …

I hope you find peace, beauty and joy in the New Year.

With love and friendship — Margekatherine

marge on rock

The Eve of Christmas

On By Margie.MercIn No Comfort Zone-2012 Challenge6 Comments
Christmas angel from my tree.
Christmas angel from my tree.

So many things change from one year to the next. One year you are hand in hand, making plans, smiling with a happy heart. The next year you sit in a quiet room contemplating the choices you made.

Last Christmas was filled with promise. This Christmas feels empty.

Next Christmas – ahh, there is always hope. There is time to dream.

What will the year bring, I wonder?

Here are the top things on my list:

Laughter, Friendship, Love.

Travel, Adventure, Learning.

Kindness, Generosity, Hope.

I’ve made room in my stocking for all of them, though the laughter may spill over and into the room!

Abiding Gifts at Christmastide 

On By Margie.MercIn Communication, happiness1 Comment

I listened to someone read this lovely poem titled Abiding Gifts last week, She told me her aunt wrote it many, many years before. It made me sit up straight and listen harder so I could hear it.

It was in a small paper book filled with poems written my women of the same congregation. I feel blessed that I can share it with you.

Abiding Gifts

By Rebecca Doughtery Hyatt

Please bring for me this Christmastide Such gifts that will with me abide. I sorely need each priceless thing That I am asking you to bring.Please bring for me this Christmastide
Such gifts that will with me abide.
I sorely need each priceless thing
That I am asking you to bring.
A Christmas tree – the same bright Star
That shines o’er Bethlehem’s fields afar.
So by that Star’s unwavering light.
I’ll follow there on Christmas night.

And may I find beneath that tree
A present marked  – Humility,
And leave there please a cloak for me
Which plainly says for – Charity.
I need Tolerance –and could use
a large package — And if you choose,
I want a magic wand  with which to find
Faith renewed in all mankind.

Bring Understanding, so that each day
Friendships are strengthened on the way.
With other things – I make this plea-
Bring boundless gifts of Sympathy.
Some kindness please, there’s never enough –
A world to soften at its touch.

Make these gifts attractive and apart
Each will be taken to my heart.
Come down my chimney with your pack
Of Peace and Goodwill upon your back;
Please add a stocking filled with Cheer
For useful days through all the year.
Bring these for me to scatter wide
Across the land this Christmastide.

Related articles

One Random Act of Kindness

On By Margie.MercIn happiness, Relationships8 Comments

Tis the season to give. Every store you enter has a person stationed outside ringing a bell and hoping to receive money for the Salvation Army. Food banks are being depleted and more food is needed. Charities are looking for Toys for Tots. Cold people need warm coats. Poor children can use some toys.

Now is the perfect time to sprinkle random acts of kindness around!

  • Buy the coffee for the next person in line at the coffeehouse
  • Push someone else’s grocery cart out of the parking lot and back into the store.
  • Clean out your closet and toss in some things that you really like and even fit you.
  • Let someone help you.
  • Introduce yourself to a neighbor.
  • Compliment a stranger (or a friend).
  • Leave comments on your favorite blogs.
  • Leave coins behind in a vending machine.
  • Write and mail thank you notes.
  • Leave positive reviews in a suggestion box.
  • Listen to children sing during the holidays.

Have you done any of these? Do you have other suggestions? What if we all did just one thing and the person next to us did one thing and on and on. Wouldn’t it be the best Christmas season ever?

I plan to do several of the things I listed but it’s better when nobody knows. So, maybe I’ll write about one of the things and just ‘hint’ at the others acts of kindness.

Merry Christmas!

Related articles

Who needs Santa anyway?

On By Margie.MercIn Relationships19 Comments

present1Last January I did something really fun … I went Christmas shopping for me! I found some items that I adored and since they were on sale, I found more items I adored and bought them. I brought them home, wrapped them up and put some love notes on them (to me from Santa) and stuck them in my closet.

Once the tree went up this year, the lovely gifts nestled under it, waiting for me to open them. What was so wonderful was – I didn’t have a clue what was inside. (For once memory failure is a good thing!)

Then the waiting really began… I couldn’t open them alone (duh!) so I waited until I could get someone on Skype to join me in the unfolding of these gifts. Finally I connected with my sister and we enjoyed the unwrapping and excitement of what could possibly be inside. It was a hoot because I really didn’t know what was inside and I loved each and every gift! Sweet!!

Merry Christmas to me, to you and to one and all!

Hope you’re smiling!

Related articles

Christmas is for babies

On By Margie.MercIn Education, happiness, No Comfort Zone-2012 Challenge, PostADay2011, Relationships11 Comments

I adore Christmas and love it even more now that I have a 3-year-old in my life. The lights, songs, glitter and presents are something unique and wonderful in his eyes. Excitement is in the air and the beat of Christmas is palpable.

Santa ClauseA child makes this all real for me in a way that takes me back to when I was a young mother watching my sons giggle with anticipation. And it reminds me of what a wonderful event Christmas was to me as a child. Funny how that goes away when I grow up…and when they grow up and leave the nest.

I’m blessed to have Christmas come alive. I am truly blessed.

I hope your day is filled with light, love and sweetness!

Merry Christmas!

—-

Related articles

I still send out Christmas cards, don’t you?

On By Margie.MercIn PostADay2011, Relationships7 Comments

There comes a time when there are no presents under the tree, no Santa visits and no gathering around the dinner table with generations of family members. What remains are Christmas cards. I love getting them in the mail and hanging them on my cupboards, windows, walls and then saving them for years down the road.

snowman cardI read a blog today asking if anyone still sends out Christmas cards… and I must say that I do.

I always begin with the Aunts (there’s not many of them left) … then I write cards to my siblings and their families. (Mind you if my parents were still alive they would top the list!)

Then I send out cards to my friends.

I must say that I am stingy about which friends get cards but all in all, if they’re in my address book they will probably get one.

What about you? Do you still send out cards? Would you like one from me? Send me your email address and I’ll be sure to write you, get your post address and send one off from me in sunny Colorado to you … wherever that may be.

I hope you take a moment and read the blog that inspired this post:

Does anyone still send Christmas cards?

And today I received this sweet eChristmas card!

Related articles

Unwrapping Christmas

On By Margie.MercIn Communication, happiness, PostADay2011, Relationships11 Comments

The outside of my house is dark this Christmas season. No lights, no garland, no artificial Santa or Baby Jesus on my lawn.

Christmas WreathI have a lone wreath. Everything looks so sad.

In my world, Christmas is on the inside:

I love the Christmas season.
I love to get presents (SANTA, ARE YOU THERE?)
I love to decorate inside my house.
I love waking up to a lit Christmas tree and colorful lights inside my house.
I love playing Christmas music and singing along (if you sing really loud, nobody really knows that you’re off key!)
I love hot apple cider and pumpkin bread.
I love sugar cookies with icing (not so great about making them though).
I love having my family close by.
I love having friends over.
I love remembering Christmas past.

The secret is on the inside. The color, smells, sounds and feel of Christmas happens when you walk through the front door.

Come on in!

 

 

Related articles