Dear Reader:

I remember while walking the Race for the Cure several years in a row with family and friends…the race “theme song” would begin playing loudly from the speakers around the race route, either walking or running – and that song is still ingrained in my memory and psyche today..it was Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger”…with those famous lyrics blaring…”What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”… 

How true that statement is! That one song would get all the cancer “thrivers” (participating in the race) dancing and jumping to the music… shouting out the refrain as loudly as possible…hearts pumping and life flowing through our veins. For that moment we were alive and it was worth celebrating!

Yesterday I met my pastor, Jeff, in the church sanctuary for him to record my Christmas Eve story. It did feel very strange for the sanctuary to be so quiet since usually when I tell  the Christmas Eve story… I’m shouting from the rafters.

Laughingly I told Jeff I should have brought some cardboard photo cut-outs (like they do at sports events) picturing screaming babies and toddlers throwing temper tantrums…only then would I have felt right at home. A typical Christmas Eve Children’s Service! 🙂

I have already mentioned to you that this year’s story is quite different from the customary fictional Christmas stories I traditionally tell. This year I am telling my story based on an unfortunate incident one pre-Christmas evening that became the impetus for my storytelling overture in 1990 that has become a long-standing legacy.

In fact the reason for my story is an anniversary date coming up …this Christmas Eve’s story marks the 30th anniversary – 30 stories I have told over three decades.

I don’t want to give the story away until I re-write it for you to read Christmas Day…but just let me say that it begins with an unexpected calamity of gigantic proportions and thrusts me into a new challenging stage of my life that will require courage and faith to meet each day.

However…this same incident will bring me a “God Wink” long before I understood what this term meant or delivered. My children and I will bear witness together on the true meaning of Christmas… first hand.

I remember hearing a motivational speaker say once for everyone in the audience to remember… “You had a purpose before anyone had an opinion.” It would take me almost a lifetime to completely understand and accept my purpose in life.

If it had not been for several “guardian angels” that thrust me out of my safety niches…my life would have been very different. It took me awhile but I finally got there…the realization that the most important step in life is learning to step out of our own way.

So until tomorrow:

Our power is  our story…Find the courage to tell it!

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

Yesterday I was talking about adding beauty around mangers with things we love…in my case greenery. While eating lunch, yesterday, I noticed I failed to find one nativity scene…surrounded by green…it was hanging on my Christmas tree! 🙂

A Shout-Out to Poppy “in memoriam”  in honor of his birthday and bringing such joy to earth (family and friends) while visiting here. Happy Birthday Poppy!