My 2014 Christmas Card to YOU...Tuesday, December 23, 2014

People come and go from our lives...it is just the natural order of things...this doesn't mean that the LOVE no longer exists, it just means that life goes on and so do people.  Finding NEW TRADITIONS is a tough thing to do when you have ALWAYS done something a certain way, and good grief, WE KNOW how most people do NOT LIKE CHANGE!

We've ALWAYS DONE IT THAT WAY has killed many good organizations and businesses.  Sometimes circumstances DICTATE change and sometimes, we just have to let go of how it used to be.

It has been a tough three years trying to walk that fine line of tradition by myself.  I've managed to keep some yearly tasks going and I've changed some and I still am searching for new ways to CELEBRATE.  No, I do NOT just sit around and bemoan what USED to be, but I LOVINGLY reflect on my past and look HOPEFULLY to the future.  We ALL struggle with our place in this world.  

I have tried to make holiday's days to CELEBRATE the lives of those I loved that are no longer with us.  I try to keep my heart TUNED to the needs of friends and have done what I can to help where I can.  I laugh at myself when I see a need and think IF ONLY I had MONEY, wouldn't I LOVE to just hand it over and help solve a problem, BUT you know, handing out MONEY is too easy sometimes...SOMETIMES when we invest our hearts, our hands and our BACK to help, THEN the true meaning of HELPING is realized and makes us more compassionate. 

This year I sent ornaments to friends in 6 different countries and I laughed because it was SO SOMETHING that Mother would have done.  She was the most thoughtful person and was always looking for ways to make people feel special.  She wrote cards so much that often, her gift was a ROLL of stamps!  She would tell people that she was NOT a flatterer, but a REALIST... ;)

I have managed to keep this tradition limping along because MOTHER was the one who struggled to get cards written, addressed and mailed.  During her last years, I did my best to get cards for her to send to her friends at the special events of the year.  It was during this time that I started "designing" our own Christmas cards and getting the labels printed.  She took JOY in having a part of peeling the labels and sticking them on the envelopes and adding the stamps...we would send around 200.  I LOST all the addresses when my computer crashed a few years ago, and sadly, I have made VERY little success in getting the address file updated, BUT I do have HOPE!

I BELIEVE that This YEAR, I will work harder on getting addresses for those who have become special to me...SO if you want to be on my list next year, PM me your address...ROFL!!

I did manage to get 65 cards mailed and I am patting myself on the back because I feel a sense of accomplishment that I did it in Mother's memory!  Sadly, I missed MORE than I wish to count, so I am posting my Christmas Card HERE for EACH of you to READ and I hope it will touch your heart in some way.  I snickered when a friend thanked me for the card and stated how much time I must have spent on the message...I am hanging my head in shame, because HONESTLY, the words came almost INSTANTLY to me and it took probably less than 30 minutes to write the message and I did very little tweeking...THAT is when I know that the words were given to me...

So HERE you go...My 2014 Christmas Card to YOU...

     Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.   James 1: 17 (NIV)

 I have copied the text after this pix so it will be easier for you to read...

Last year after I had sent my cards to my friends, I read a blog about CHOOSING a word for the year and I had NEVER thought of that before, but strangely enough, my card was HOPE and had a candle drawn on the front.  I’ve used that word MANY times during this year, but then, I always have.  I am forever saying statements like: I HOPE you have a good day, I HOPE you find what you are looking for, and I HOPE you are happy.

I NEVER realized the pressure I had put on myself in coming up with a word for THIS year.   SO many choices that fit my life…GRACE is granted to me daily, FAITH is what keeps me ticking, LOVE is the basis of life, WISH is a way to keep my goals in focus and renewed, HONOR is the kind of life I WANT to live and the possibilities could go on and on… BUT TODAY, I decided that I would choose BELIEVE.

BELIEVE seemed like a natural progression to HOPE, for IF we do not BELIEVE in our HOPE, what is the purpose.  We can hope all day to win the lottery, but when we fail to buy a ticket (AND I have NEVER bought a ticket), we CANNOT BELIEVE that we will win…the reality simply stays as an unfulfilled and impossible HOPE.

I LOVE the concept of Santa and so I say that I BELIEVE…I like the symbolism of a STRANGER leaving presents for people WITHOUT getting something in return…I LIKE the BRIGHT Jolly Ole Soul who laughs and shakes like a bowl full of jelly, because, WELL, that COULD be ME! (yep…sigh)

My FAITH in Christ and the story of the nativity is in NO WAY threatened by having Santa sharing the holiday, because I BELIEVE Santa is an extension of ALL the Nativity represents~~the anticipation and preparation of an EVENT…the CELEBRATION…AND yes, the GIFT, for that little tiny baby who cooed and cried was our GIFT!!  Those ten tiny fingers and toes were perfectly formed for US in a symbol that WE could understand…a BABY who was HUMAN like us.  GOD GAVE to us without expectation.  He sent HIS ONLY SON to SAVE us and NOT to condemn us in any way.  He taught us

LOVE…HOPE…FAITH…JOY…PEACE…HONOR…and to BELIEVE!!

It is OUR RESPONSIBILITY to teach and to reach others so they can KNOW that CHRISTMAS goes FAR DEEPER than simply having a Santa AND that CHRISTMAS is much more than ONE DAY.  We must BELIEVE in ourselves and in others for the story of Christmas to come full circle.  We receive blessings daily, but it is in PASSING it ON when TRUE JOY is realized!  We must live a life of HONOR and simply STATING that we BELIEVE is not acceptable.  Our lives MUST reflect our beliefs, and sadly, too often, they do!

I BELIEVE as I reach my hands to HEAVEN in PRAISE of the AWESOMENESS of a GOD who loved us SO MUCH that He gave to us FREELY and unselfishly.  I BELIEVE that I am LOVED UNCONDITIONALLY because of GRACE.  I BELIEVE in my FAITH as a way to get through those dark days when HOPE seems gone and I think it is impossible to pull myself from the depression that surrounds my soul.  I BELIEVE that JOY comes in the morning when the night has been long and scary.  I BELIEVE that PEACE passes ALL understandings of reality, but that it comes to us WHEN we let go of all the FEARS we hold tightly in our hearts and when ANGER is allowed to be replaced with HONOR and an acceptance that we ALL fall short of the glory of God…I BELIEVE!!

I HOPE you BELIEVE too! 

Happy Christmas to ALL and to ALL a good NIGHT!! *

…Blessings to YOU…charlotte♥

 Charcoal, Barney and Prince Charlie, TOO!

*(just a note of history…HAPPY was the original line written in A CHRISTMAS STORY!!)

Here is the picture of the FREE Pattern for you to enjoy as you wish...enlarge it...shrink it...use it for mixed media...stitch it...JUST do NOT claim it as your own!!  To copy, move your mouse (good luck finding it cause it IS Christmas and we KNOW a mouse was not stirring...ROFL) over the picture, right click and SAVE IMAGE AS...