Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, family and friends.

I love creating my Christmas card every year -- selecting a favorite photograph or two, creating the card, crafting the message, and addressing each one. Signed, sealed and stamped with love – it's a Christmas wish, from my heart to yours. Whether taped to the fridge or the mantel, or simply tossed in a pile on the desk, a card sent the old fashioned way is sweetest.

But it ain't happening for me this year! Here's the card I created in early November, just before I grabbed the tail of a tornado.

The pictures are from February 2014, taken of Melvin at the cabin during that magical north-Georgia snow storm we enjoyed in the country. (If you live in the city, you may remember it less fondly.)

The card's message is the last stanza from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1863 poem, "Christmas Bells." In despair over the recent losses of his son in the American Civil War and his wife to a house fire, he questioned God's presence and power. We might relate, given recent world events, and take comfort in Longfellow's conclusion that "God is not dead, nor doth he sleep."

I'm enjoying all the cards I'm receiving in the mail from all of you. Please don't take me off your list; I'll be back to traditional cards for next year. Please know that my message is no less heartfelt, despite digital delivery.

Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for 2015!
Pat

Christmas Bells

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,

and wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime,

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;

"For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men."