HAPPY ENDINGS

Everybody loves their birthday 

It’s a day we all hold dear…

And I love that mine falls on December 31st…

the last day of the year.

I have mentioned I grew up on Fairy Tales

and though they may only be pretending…

I love the stories…love the adventures…

and love those happy endings…

I wonder…was I drawn to happy endings

because I was born on the last day of the year?

Or…

Are Fairy Tales the reason

I hold happy endings so dear?

It matters not…for it’s now December 31st

and as my birthday is descending…

I feel blessed to have lived another Fairy Tale year…

with another happy ending.

blessed to be living a life that started Once Upon a Time…

a life filled with joy and love…and laughter…

a Fairy Tale where each year ends with…

Happily Ever After.

LISTENING

I noticed them from across the way…

her tears first catching my attention

and I wondered…was she sad or stressed or angry 

or filled with apprehension?

I saw her lips move but I could not hear her words 

as she laid her head upon his shoulder.

He said nothing, he let her cry…

all he did was hold her.

Again her lips moved as she turned her head 

and she looked into his eyes

He kissed her forehead, rubbed her arm…and listened to her cries…

I don’t know what she was telling him…

about her anger or her fears…

but he did not speak, he only listened…

then gently wiped her tears.

In a few minutes it was over…

she gave him an embrace.

She sat up a little taller 

and a smile crossed her face.

Again I saw her lips move, and again 

she laid her head upon his shoulder…

And again he said not one word…

all he did was hold her…

And I wondered as I watched them from afar…

As the few remaining tears on her cheeks seemed to glisten…

Perhaps sometimes people don’t need answers to their problems…

Perhaps they just want us to listen…

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES

Yesterday we packed away our Christmas decorations…

delicately packing our old ornaments with the new.

And as we closed the lids on the boxes

we packed away our memories too.

Its one of the many things we love about Christmas…

part of what Christmas is all about…

How, when we open our boxes of decorations,

the memories come spilling out.

Memories of Christmases past

Memories we hope will never end…

Memories of times and pets and food and places…

Memories of family and friends.

Because creating memories is what makes Christmas special

And so, when we bid each Christmas adieu,

We delicately pack away

our old memories with the new..

Where they will rest together safe and secure

without a care…without a fear…

until we open up the boxes

and unpack them all again…

next year.

BETWEEN THE LINES

Every year when it arrives we rush to put on our Christmas sweaters

Sit down in front of the fireplace and read their Holiday letter.

In this age of social media, when each day our senses are assailed…

It’s wonderful to slow our pace a little and read their letter received in the mail.

Their letter outlines the year they’ve had…there on the paper for us to see

The highs and lows, but mostly highs, of our good friends and their family.

In what ways were they blessed this year…what set their world aglow…

How their family has grown and what has changed from a mere 12 months ago.

The traveling they’ve done, the places they’ve seen, the what, how, why and who…

What their children have been doing…and, of course, their grandchildren too.

We love reading about their adventures…how their lives all intertwine…

But what we love most about their letter…is what we read between the lines.

The sentiment is lovely, and while reading, we are thoroughly engaged…

We wonder at how the words stay fixed upon the paper 

but the love flows off the page.

For part of the beauty of their letter is the beauty we cannot see…

How the love that went into the writing…floats out onto Deborah and me.

That’s why we can’t wait for their letter to arrive each year

because for a moment our lives are intertwined….

as we sit down in front of the fireplace…

and read between the lines.

GLITTER BEARD

I was intrigued when I saw it on the internet…

as this holiday season neared

I thought, “Hey wouldn’t it be cool this year…

to put glitter in my beard.”

Bryan tried it in his beard this year…

and it worked just like a song

So I thought...a little glitter in my beard...

what could possibly go wrong?

We ordered something called beard oil…

and when it came in the mail we cheered…

It’s what we would use to guarantee

the glitter stayed upon my beard.

We chose to use silver glitter…

and every bottle in the house we commandeered 

safe in the knowledge that silver glitter 

would add a sparkle to my beard.

And it did…

for a while I had these wonderful sparkles throughout my mustache and my beard

But as the evening party wore on…

my sparkles disappeared.

Anyone I hugged or touched or walked by was besmeared

by little flakes of silver glitter 

that had escaped from off my beard.

People had it on their cheeks, their clothing…

in fact everywhere I peered

Sparkling in the sunlight…flecks of glitter from my beard.

Everywhere I sat or walked or breathed 

glitter sprinkled itself below

I even found it in places on my body…

it was never meant to go

Brushing, sweeping, showering…

my world turned eerie, strange and weird

As I tried desperately to remove the glitter 

that had fallen from my beard.

Alas, today no matter how hard I try 

it seems some of the glitter has adhered

to everything in the world I possess…

and yes there’s still some in by beard.

But I remain undeterred…

next year to make the glitter in my beard prolong…

I’ll attach it with hairspray or better yet Elmers glue…

I mean what could possibly go wrong?.

A CELEBRATION OF THE DAY AFTER

Happy December 26th! 

Like Christmas, it’s a day filled with fun and joy and laughter

But one that has the disadvantage…of arriving one day after.

Yes, I’m afraid December 26, in the annals of history, is fated to remain unreckoned…

Doomed to stand in relative obscurity with it’s neighbor…January 2nd.

I think it’s time we celebrate all those days…whose only crime is showing up one day late

who are destined to travel down the road of history…

24 hours away from being great.

Do you know the name of the first man on the moon?  

Of course…everybody does?

But do you remember the second…

Ed Aldrin…his family called him Buzz.

Buzz Aldrin… the second man to emerge from the Lunar Module….

his history forever destined to be blurred…

Just like the groundhog who quietly emerges from his burrow…not on the 2nd…

but February 3rd

Mt. Everest is the tallest mountain in the world but the second is almost as high…

Yet K2 is only an afterthought…kind of like the 5th day of July.

We remember Snow White as the first movie Disney brought to the silver screen…

But the second one…Pinocchio…must take it’s place next to the unfortunate March 18.

Everyone knows Amelia Earhart, her story is one of courage, strength and devotion.

She was the first female pilot to fly by herself…across the Atlantic Ocean.

The second was Geraldine Mock, and at her even more accolades were hurled

for she kept going after crossing the Atlantic…and flew around the world!

Isn’t it funny how life works, for no one could have foreseen

That Geraldine would be a footnote in history…just like the day following Halloween.

But such is the way the calendar unfolds, be it September, October or December

Some days, like people, are destined for greatness, while other we hardly remember.

I think it’s time we change all that…and give these days their due

For I believe ‘days after’ deserve a place in history too.

So hold your chin up all you ‘days after'…you have nothing to lament or fear…

After all you could be the day after February 28th…

and show up…only every four years.

BLESS US...EVERYONE

There’s a little axiom called the Golden Rule 

that is impressive in it’s simplicity.

A basic human principle regarding reciprocity.

It’s often taught in families

handed down from our fathers and our mothers.

Every religion in the world embraces it…in one form or another.

Perhaps at this most religious time for many…

This Hanukah,…Christmas…Yule…

It would be a good time to reach into the shadows

and bring back the Golden Rule.

A rule that teaches us a simple truth

It has but one goal…one aim…

That you should treat me with kindness and respect…

and I should treat you the same.

So when…whatever God we believe in,

thinks about us when this holiday, or any day, is done…

he or she will have a reason…

to bless us every one.

BEFORE THE PAINT HAS DRIED

When families paint memories together…uniting from far and wide…

We realize something wonderful is happening…before the paint has dried…

We are born with paint and brush in hand and as we slowly find our way

we begin painting our own memories a little every day…

At first we’re painting on our own…then from our parents lap.

As we grow some paintings are ours and ours alone…sometimes they overlap

with people, other painters, we meet along the way 

and our colors become more vibrant…create a more beautiful array. 

We are happy to paint our portraits alone as we walk under the stars

and glad to add our paint to others and have them add their paint to ours…

Through the years we find with some people…that our colors blend so perfectly…

That what we paint together is so beautiful…

and we call them family.

Yesterday our family painted Christmas memories upon our canvas…

Some bright and distinctive…some more faint…

People laughing, running, playing, hugging…

brushes painting as fast as they could paint

And as we said goodbye to one another…

each treasuring our own memories

I thought how there is a wonder in Christmas that is shared by families.

We can’t wait for them to arrive at our door…

to look them in the eye,

we cherish the memories we’re painting…

and we don’t want to say goodbye.

And isn’t that how life should be…

painting fleeting moments together…side by side…

and looking forward to the next moment…

before the paint has dried.

FAMILY

There are many ways to think of family…

because there is no fixed design.

Family can be a legendary adventure 

where characters intertwine…

Family can come in any form, any color…

in different shapes and sizes… 

It’s a never ending melody 

that somehow harmonizes.

Family is always developing…ever-changing 

like the oceans and the skies.

It is one of natures masterpieces…

where the paint never quite dries.

I think that’s why every family 

has an inherent obligation

to be an example of love and peace and understanding 

for succeeding generations.

So with brush, and paints and canvas 

new members will forever be acquainted…

and they will see the beauty of a family 

lies in the coats already painted…

and when it comes their turn to guide the brush…

they will smile…feel blessed

and with love and peace and understanding…

add their new coat to the rest.

PROUD GRANDPARENT

Yesterday I was given a shirt (Thanks Wendy!)…

On the shirt were two of my grandchildren and me acting like hams

and it got me to thinking as I wore it…as a grandparent…how lucky I am…

My grandparents died when I was too young to remember them

one of Fate’s unexplainable twists…

not remembering anything about them…I never knew all the things that I missed.

What traditions would they have passed on to me 

if they had been there to watch me grow?

What wisdom would they have imparted?  

Would they have been proud?…

Unfortunately I’ll never know.

But I‘ve been lucky enough to be a part of my grandchildren’s lives...

To participate, to be alive…to see…

And I’m not sure who’s benefitted more from grandparenthood…

my grandchildren…or me.

I’ve learned to enjoy this roller coaster ride…

up and down through all the emotions I’ve felt.

I’ve learned how a look…or the touch of a tiny hand 

can cause this old heart to melt. 

I’ve learned how to listen when they tell me their stories…

no matter how exotic or benign.

I’ve learned to ignore their groans and the roll of their eyes when I retell some of mine.

I’ve learned not to worry if I flail when I dance or all the times I may warble off key.

I’ve learned you’re never to old to run, jump or play…

or climb to the top of a tree.

I’ve learned not to give big knives to a three year old.

I’ve learned of the wonder a smile can evoke.

I’ve learned to love hearing a grandchild say PopPop.

I’ve learned how to laugh at the same knock knock jokes.

From my grandchildren I’ve learned to see the world through innocent eyes…

I’ve learned what it feels like to be free…

This shirt proves they’ve taught me how to be silly…

(or is that a lesson that they've learned from me?)

Yes, It’s true I never knew them…

that is not a path the Fates had allowed

But I like to think…if they saw the shirt I was wearing today…

My grandparents would be proud.