I found the following description fitting for me this year:
“Families are inherently unmanageable — ragtag armies at times, yet with a unity even they don’t fully understand. Someone is always pulling a thread, throwing the whole thing askew. Yet the threads remain, binding us to one another even when geography and other priorities pull us apart. Christmas seems to magnify everything; the season is never smooth, is always dramatic in one way or another.” ~Patti Davis
I’m not depressed nor sad or angry. I’m simply accepting that the holidays aren’t as smooth as one might expect. At least it is so with me. The excerpt above is from Patti Davis’ book The Long Goodbye.
I finished the book last night. It was beautifully written and seemed to be open and honest. I never thought I’d read anything from her but this book was a good start. Yes, lots of tears through out but if you ever have the chance to read it, I think it speaks to us as daughters caring for ageing parents, too. Kind of like a journey and I’m glad she wrote it and I read it.
On another note:
As I grow older, Christmas becomes less and less about gifts. The materialism and secularism of Christmas is enough to make me want to crawl under a rock until the New Year! I think that is why I enjoy the season of Advent so much more than Christmas itself these days. Advent is celebrated daily and serves as a reminder of the simplicity and beauty of the reason for the season. Advent helps quiet myself from the noise of commercialism and focus on the vast importance of listening to God.
“We need to find God and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is a friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grow in silence, see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence . . .We need silence to be able to touch souls.” ~ Mother Teresa
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