By the time most of those on this list or group read this post it will already be Christmas Eve or maybe even Christmas Day. These two days are probably the most significant days of any year because they engender so many deep emotional memories within the populace of the Western world. For many these are memories associated with great times of joy and for others it is a time when the memories of deep pain and disappointments once again surface to steal the joys of the present. I personally harbor memories which fall on both sides of that line. I dreaded Christmas as a child because my family did not celebrate the day and when we returned to our little one room school the teacher would ask each child to tell what gifts they had received. I would always have to tell her that I'd rather not say. Then there were my adult years when I spent the holidays at sea and was often as not submerged on patrol in a nuclear submarine, but we managed by making and exchanging our own greeting cards and usually one of the fellows would dress up in a makeshift costume and go about the boat playing the role he had assumed, handing out little candy canes to all the others who were awake. He would hang a cane on the individual bunks of those who happened to be asleep. All of this was completely spontaneous on the part of the individual or individuals who had taken it on themselves to act out the charade.
There were also the many years of great joy when we as a family cut our own tree and made many of the decorations. My wife would go into baking mode often baking well over 100 dozen cookies to be placed on plates, neatly wrapped with hand made bows and delivered with genuine love to those less fortunate or elderly, alone and lonely. They in all probability did not need the extra calories but they always appreciated being remembered. I guess the point I'm trying to made is that more than at any other time Christmas is a time for bringing peace and joy to others and if you and I are to do so, we must Do It Ourselves, and in so doing we will possess a glad heart.
I want to wish each and everyone of you a blessed Christmas and a joy filled year to come, but you just may have to make the effort and DIY.
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Dale in the Flatlands.
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