Dear Reader:

Today is the last day of November. The month has flown so fast…it has become a blur. When Walsh and Mollie and the children stopped by Wednesday evening…they brought me this live miniature fir tree as an early decoration for the holidays. It came with ornaments and miniature lights. I decorated it yesterday and last evening added the lights…and just that quickly… I am in the Christmas spirit…with pumpkins and turkeys fading quickly away from my memory.

When I turned on the little lights last night…it was just as exciting as the big tree…what is it about the magic in lights…big and plentiful or miniature and few…the aura changes everything in the room. Serenity and peace flows in.

My small epiphany arrived with the delight of the lights. We all clap and smile when we attend lighting Christmas Tree ceremonies in our communities at Christmas. I did the same thing when the little tree came on. It dawned on me that Christmas lights has an amazing effect on everything living.

Light is the most universal symbol. It encompasses so many ideas in life….hope, purity, goodness, ultimate reality, the sun, avenger of darkness and evil, cosmic energy, creativity, and always optimism. It makes us happy!

So this holiday season I plan to stop and soak in as much light as possible, street lights, town decorative lights, home Christmas trees, store lights….and always, always the stars leading us home one day.

So until tomorrow…”We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
― Plato

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I hope the Dingle “men” have a wonderful trip to the Palmetto Bowl today in Columbia and I feel sure Rutledge’s eyes will be as big as saucers…my prayer and hope is that each player finishes without injury and feels like he gave it his best…regardless of the final outcome.

BUT YET… that said….Go Tigers! 🙂 I Love you! I have Honey’s Lucky Clemson Palmetto Tree polished and ready to shine.

Walsh has waited a long time to take Rutledge to a Palmetto Bowl game…a vision I am sure he has dreamed about since Rutledge was born…now he, Rutledge, Tommy and dad are all attending….an historical family moment!