Once when I was a kid, we were leaving church on Christmas Eve and there was an elderly man kneeling with his head down and weeping. I felt such sorrow for him. My brother and I were so excited to get home but here was this man in the depths of sorrow. One day we all have a Christmas season where it’s tough to find the joy or to not relive wonderful memories while simultaneously wondering if you’ll ever feel that way again.
A beautiful post as always. Love your drawing and a Merry Christmas to you and the family! 🎄✝️
It's always so sad to see the elderly, in any season, alone and struggling :(. Breaks my heart. I wish our country cared more about them (and a lot of things). Tech is pushing all of us out. There is so much isolation for the elderly. So sad to see an older man cry. That gives me tears just reading.
Thank you friend. I definitely need to take a beginner class in sketching (or go through the book I bought!) - but it's so much fun to try (and relaxing). Merry Christmas to you and your family as well! oxox
So many things to love about this, Deborah! The world may not always get it exactly right...like where that Christmas-in-your heart-feeling comes from, but God's universal truths are true for all! Peace and goodwill towards men, brings cheer to all!
We have 7 children-one in another province and one living rough. Two Christmases ago, my daughter-in-law hosted us and I ruined Christmas by trying to include my youngest...lost in addiction. I never thought that fracture would be repaired but they invited us again. This time they included little sister and her addict boyfriend but they didn't come. Living rough and Christmas brings on too much anxiety. My husband has cancer so they wanted to have everyone together. But some of my kids came. Sickness prevented the others. And the Littles were spectacular! The littlest now knows Grandma and Grandpa and is infatuated with us. The feeling is mutual! So Christmas was not perfect. It never is. But we have to look for the blessings in every gift. The good, the bad and the ugly!
Oh Rosemary, I can only imagine how it feels in your heart to be so helpless to your husband's health and your daughter's addiction. I have a few friends in this place and it's all God all the time, one not so much. Just depression. Leaning in and praying throughout the day, night and growing closer and closer to His purpose for you. He is writing our stories and it sounds like you are letting Him. Homelessness and addiction bring so much anxiety for the ones living in it and unable to take the steps to get out of it and I can't imagine how hard the entire dynamic is for you all. I know you love your family right where they are at.
How lovely of your daughter-in-law to open up her heart and home, no matter the imperfection of the gathering or the past gathering with the little sister. We also had sickness for our "first" family Christmas in 6 years and are slowly finding ways to bond again with our two granddaughters whose parents estranged from us in 2020. It's a mix of beauty and remembered pain that we move through with grace.
Children, "the littles" as I call them too, are our greatest blessing and gift. I am so glad for us all to feel the love of our grandchildren in the middle of all the grownup challenges.
God keep you all now and in the new year to come. I pray God's miracles over 2025 for your family. Much love to you, deb ox
Thank you so much, Deborah, for your kind words. It's wonderful to meet fellow Christiams on this platform that share in some of our own trials and receive love and support in encouraging words and prayer. Yes, many prayers answered in spite of the ones we pray hardest for not being aswred yet.
Right? and I never really had Grinch on my radar! I felt it was creepy until I sat with Vi for the 2018 cartoon version and it was the sweetest :). I have missed you a lot, but I have also been pretty quiet with my mum and brother with me. I've taken time off to be with family and it's a good thing, however, I have also yearned for the space to write when it hits me. Thank you for reading this and saying hello! I think it's going to be a wild year ahead and I know you will come back strong with your incredible writing. I wish for you peace, good health and more adventures! I love your adventures and pictures. Much love to you Julie always. oxox
Great to connect with you and glad you are bonding with family and enjoying them. I like this time of year. A feeling of rounding up and new starts. Love to you x
I’m so glad to see you here and to know you’re doing well. I really like the time after Christmas. The interim between Christmas and New Years. The rounding up and new starts as you say! It’s a time where I reflect, think about creating, and what that might look like, who knows?, read, clean up my website or refresh things, etc. Happy New Year Julie. Much love. ox
Thank you my lovely friend! Oh and btw, my brother Adam, is childhood friends with Jason Bourne, your ghost pianist at The Magic Castle and Jason's dad was the longtime "Professor Bourne" on that piano 🎹
Oh Jenn! I am silly and have no clue what I am doing but I keep thinking I must push through to whatever I am seeing. Hoping to take a class next year! 🙏🏻😘 (thank you!) ox
No no no. Not silly. Not at all. Capable of making your visions come alive. I hope you do get to take that drawing class!! Drawing is obviously a passion of mine and a good teacher can help you learn in lots of tiny ways, leaving wisdom like slowly exploding nuggets in your brain that continue to enlighten you the deeper you get into your craft. I’m so excited for you!
I’m so excited you said all of this Jenn. In a way, it’s very similar, like when I headed to school for photography at 39 years old. I had to drop everything I was doing, thinking and feeling to get “naturally technical” and it wasn’t easy. When all was said and done I had skills in my pocket and my eye and ideas came back. I think drawing or sketching is different, but I can learn. It’s not coming naturally, like with my photography - but the skills will help. Thank you for the encouragement. oxox
I think that’s a good point; learning the technique of a craft naturally inhibits creativity for a time until it becomes setting nature. That’s a really great observation. I know that soon you’ll have mastered the basics and you’ll be on your way to putting your ideas to paper in a whole new way!
Merry Christmas, Deb. Thank you for this beautiful reflection on Christmas. You are right, it is often as painful as it is joyful; but the right mindset can help us to focus on the good and the reason for us to be joyful in this season and all the year round. I love how you un-grinched the other shopper. Enjoy having your loved ones near this Christmas; wishing you all the happiness and joy of the season!
Awe, you are so kind! I'm usually pretty happy but sometimes you need "extra" patience to not get a bad attitude from a bad attitude around you (lol) and I guess we were meant to chat. God works in wonderful ways. Everyone is dealing with something on their own level right? Sending you tons of love and extra patience too! Thank you Jenn and Merry Christmas 🎄😘✨
The bad attitudes rub off easily and can be hard to resist. Responding with such genuine love seems on point for what I’ve known of you here! Wishing you all the love your heart can handle and a merry Christmas ❤️❤️❤️
Happy Christmas time joy! You have the magic in the little ones… I miss those days. God Bless you and your family. I thank God our paths have crossed, dear Deb…I am a better, richer person because of you and your heartful writing! Love you! 🎄🎅🏻🎶🥰🤗
How did I miss this? Oh, I know! It was a crazy busy Christmas season! ha ha! I am so thankful, as well, that God put us on the path here together. I am better and richer for knowing you too. Love you. oxox
I can't agree more! My littlest granddaughter, three, has been talking all about how Christmas is in your heart and no one can take it. She brought this up today while we were driving home from preschool :) Merry Christmas!
I think we need to make 2025 the year where we take the time to come down and have a meal with you guys! God Bless you and that beautiful family. Merry Christmas! oxox
What a beautiful story of finding connection and grace, even in the small, everyday moments that test our patience. Your reflection reminds me of how powerful a kind word or small gesture can be, especially during the holiday season when emotions run high for so many of us.
Thank you Jo :) It's so true and I could have reacted, rolled my eyes, but it's Christmas! I'm normally not a reactor in a negative way - but this can be a very testy time, as you say! It really is important to spread cheer. There are so many people hurting.
Merry Christmas to you and yours and thank you for reading. ox
Thank you Sierra! Those moments are the real gifts of Christmas. Taking them into every season is what's so important, like you say :). And thank you for the kindness on the sketch! I am a wild thing :) Merry Christmas! ox
San Fernando High was where the famous San Fernando Trio came out of in the 70's. Charles White, Malcolm Moore, and Kevin Williams lead back-to-back L.A. City Football titles. Some called them the Dream Team. We all knew about them :)
I do my best to have a Merry Christmas and when someone decides to break in line I try to smile and give a Merry Christmas to them. Sometimes they say they are sorry, but I let them know it is fine. Other times people will look at me and say, "I don't use that saying any more". Then I say, "Well have a Happy New Year" and one man looked at me and said, "I don't say that either." After that I just feel sorry for them
Hi Paul, it is very sad when people are like that :( So sensitive and uptight. What has the world come to? Christmas is about love, hope and joy. It's simple. We had an atheist man sue the city next-door to us for 25 years straight over the long-standing traditional nativity scenes, that were life-size and always placed on the center grass of it's main street. People would drive for miles to see them.
I don't take offense, like you - I just think people really need a smile and some kindness. Merry Christmas and thank you for reading :)
It’s honestly been such a blessing to get to know you Kristin. I will always remember reading your piece, last summer, about what it was like in a big city hospital for you and how life was during 2020 and crying. There are so many stories to tell and I pray our hearts can be open to all of them. Everyone was a victim of powerful overreach. We all need great empathy as we move into 2025, cause I believe much will be uncovered. It will be heavy. We will continue our friendship and we will most definitely chat on my podcast at some point. Thank you and love you. ox
Once when I was a kid, we were leaving church on Christmas Eve and there was an elderly man kneeling with his head down and weeping. I felt such sorrow for him. My brother and I were so excited to get home but here was this man in the depths of sorrow. One day we all have a Christmas season where it’s tough to find the joy or to not relive wonderful memories while simultaneously wondering if you’ll ever feel that way again.
A beautiful post as always. Love your drawing and a Merry Christmas to you and the family! 🎄✝️
It's always so sad to see the elderly, in any season, alone and struggling :(. Breaks my heart. I wish our country cared more about them (and a lot of things). Tech is pushing all of us out. There is so much isolation for the elderly. So sad to see an older man cry. That gives me tears just reading.
Thank you friend. I definitely need to take a beginner class in sketching (or go through the book I bought!) - but it's so much fun to try (and relaxing). Merry Christmas to you and your family as well! oxox
Merry Christmas and God bless you!
Thank you Alex! Merry Christmas back to you! Enjoy every minute of the season with your lovely family. ox
So many things to love about this, Deborah! The world may not always get it exactly right...like where that Christmas-in-your heart-feeling comes from, but God's universal truths are true for all! Peace and goodwill towards men, brings cheer to all!
We have 7 children-one in another province and one living rough. Two Christmases ago, my daughter-in-law hosted us and I ruined Christmas by trying to include my youngest...lost in addiction. I never thought that fracture would be repaired but they invited us again. This time they included little sister and her addict boyfriend but they didn't come. Living rough and Christmas brings on too much anxiety. My husband has cancer so they wanted to have everyone together. But some of my kids came. Sickness prevented the others. And the Littles were spectacular! The littlest now knows Grandma and Grandpa and is infatuated with us. The feeling is mutual! So Christmas was not perfect. It never is. But we have to look for the blessings in every gift. The good, the bad and the ugly!
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Oh Rosemary, I can only imagine how it feels in your heart to be so helpless to your husband's health and your daughter's addiction. I have a few friends in this place and it's all God all the time, one not so much. Just depression. Leaning in and praying throughout the day, night and growing closer and closer to His purpose for you. He is writing our stories and it sounds like you are letting Him. Homelessness and addiction bring so much anxiety for the ones living in it and unable to take the steps to get out of it and I can't imagine how hard the entire dynamic is for you all. I know you love your family right where they are at.
How lovely of your daughter-in-law to open up her heart and home, no matter the imperfection of the gathering or the past gathering with the little sister. We also had sickness for our "first" family Christmas in 6 years and are slowly finding ways to bond again with our two granddaughters whose parents estranged from us in 2020. It's a mix of beauty and remembered pain that we move through with grace.
Children, "the littles" as I call them too, are our greatest blessing and gift. I am so glad for us all to feel the love of our grandchildren in the middle of all the grownup challenges.
God keep you all now and in the new year to come. I pray God's miracles over 2025 for your family. Much love to you, deb ox
Thank you so much, Deborah, for your kind words. It's wonderful to meet fellow Christiams on this platform that share in some of our own trials and receive love and support in encouraging words and prayer. Yes, many prayers answered in spite of the ones we pray hardest for not being aswred yet.
I think it wouldn’t be Christmas if someone didn’t comment that it wasn’t how it used to be. Weirdly that seems to be one of the traditions we have.
I didn’t really discover ‘The Grinch’ til later in life, it’s an American ‘thing’ that has caught in in the UK but I am a fan of it.
Thank you for reminding us all what counts. I haven’t been very active in here of late but lovely to see you xx
Right? and I never really had Grinch on my radar! I felt it was creepy until I sat with Vi for the 2018 cartoon version and it was the sweetest :). I have missed you a lot, but I have also been pretty quiet with my mum and brother with me. I've taken time off to be with family and it's a good thing, however, I have also yearned for the space to write when it hits me. Thank you for reading this and saying hello! I think it's going to be a wild year ahead and I know you will come back strong with your incredible writing. I wish for you peace, good health and more adventures! I love your adventures and pictures. Much love to you Julie always. oxox
Great to connect with you and glad you are bonding with family and enjoying them. I like this time of year. A feeling of rounding up and new starts. Love to you x
I’m so glad to see you here and to know you’re doing well. I really like the time after Christmas. The interim between Christmas and New Years. The rounding up and new starts as you say! It’s a time where I reflect, think about creating, and what that might look like, who knows?, read, clean up my website or refresh things, etc. Happy New Year Julie. Much love. ox
To you to Deborah :)
Continue staying magical Deborah! ✨🤍✨
Thank you my lovely friend! Oh and btw, my brother Adam, is childhood friends with Jason Bourne, your ghost pianist at The Magic Castle and Jason's dad was the longtime "Professor Bourne" on that piano 🎹
♥️ Small world! Love you 😘
Cowinkydinkys! I love them! I know him! We definitely have to put it on our list next year! A meet-up at tge Magic Castle! 🤗✨🤍✨ @Deborah T. Hewitt
Amazing! A very small world indeed :). And I’d LOVE that! A good reason to dress-up! ox
Well have to plan it for the new year! ✨💜🙏🎉
Oh! And I love your tree sketch and that you are finding solace in sketching. ❤️
Oh Jenn! I am silly and have no clue what I am doing but I keep thinking I must push through to whatever I am seeing. Hoping to take a class next year! 🙏🏻😘 (thank you!) ox
No no no. Not silly. Not at all. Capable of making your visions come alive. I hope you do get to take that drawing class!! Drawing is obviously a passion of mine and a good teacher can help you learn in lots of tiny ways, leaving wisdom like slowly exploding nuggets in your brain that continue to enlighten you the deeper you get into your craft. I’m so excited for you!
I’m so excited you said all of this Jenn. In a way, it’s very similar, like when I headed to school for photography at 39 years old. I had to drop everything I was doing, thinking and feeling to get “naturally technical” and it wasn’t easy. When all was said and done I had skills in my pocket and my eye and ideas came back. I think drawing or sketching is different, but I can learn. It’s not coming naturally, like with my photography - but the skills will help. Thank you for the encouragement. oxox
I think that’s a good point; learning the technique of a craft naturally inhibits creativity for a time until it becomes setting nature. That’s a really great observation. I know that soon you’ll have mastered the basics and you’ll be on your way to putting your ideas to paper in a whole new way!
Merry Christmas, Deb. Thank you for this beautiful reflection on Christmas. You are right, it is often as painful as it is joyful; but the right mindset can help us to focus on the good and the reason for us to be joyful in this season and all the year round. I love how you un-grinched the other shopper. Enjoy having your loved ones near this Christmas; wishing you all the happiness and joy of the season!
Awe, you are so kind! I'm usually pretty happy but sometimes you need "extra" patience to not get a bad attitude from a bad attitude around you (lol) and I guess we were meant to chat. God works in wonderful ways. Everyone is dealing with something on their own level right? Sending you tons of love and extra patience too! Thank you Jenn and Merry Christmas 🎄😘✨
The bad attitudes rub off easily and can be hard to resist. Responding with such genuine love seems on point for what I’ve known of you here! Wishing you all the love your heart can handle and a merry Christmas ❤️❤️❤️
Sometimes those attitudes can get the best of me! But best to work it out with kindness (or kill it with kindness, right? lol). oxox
I hope your Christmas was full of beauty and inspiration. ox
Yes, that is the best way, you are right. We did have a very nice Christmas, low key and chill 😊
Happy Christmas time joy! You have the magic in the little ones… I miss those days. God Bless you and your family. I thank God our paths have crossed, dear Deb…I am a better, richer person because of you and your heartful writing! Love you! 🎄🎅🏻🎶🥰🤗
How did I miss this? Oh, I know! It was a crazy busy Christmas season! ha ha! I am so thankful, as well, that God put us on the path here together. I am better and richer for knowing you too. Love you. oxox
Cindy Lou Who is a worthy role model, IMHO
I can't agree more! My littlest granddaughter, three, has been talking all about how Christmas is in your heart and no one can take it. She brought this up today while we were driving home from preschool :) Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to you and your family! Sounds like you are having a heartwarming holiday!
This was my soul’s medicine today. Merry Christmas! I’m looking forward to time too.😘
Oh this means so much to me friend! Thank you :)
I think we need to make 2025 the year where we take the time to come down and have a meal with you guys! God Bless you and that beautiful family. Merry Christmas! oxox
What a beautiful story of finding connection and grace, even in the small, everyday moments that test our patience. Your reflection reminds me of how powerful a kind word or small gesture can be, especially during the holiday season when emotions run high for so many of us.
Thank you Jo :) It's so true and I could have reacted, rolled my eyes, but it's Christmas! I'm normally not a reactor in a negative way - but this can be a very testy time, as you say! It really is important to spread cheer. There are so many people hurting.
Merry Christmas to you and yours and thank you for reading. ox
Cute, inspiring story! Hope we all have those moments this season - and every season! And cute picture!! I rock it. ;)
Thank you Sierra! Those moments are the real gifts of Christmas. Taking them into every season is what's so important, like you say :). And thank you for the kindness on the sketch! I am a wild thing :) Merry Christmas! ox
My wife Beth grew up in Sylmar, graduating from San Fernando High. Small world!
San Fernando High was where the famous San Fernando Trio came out of in the 70's. Charles White, Malcolm Moore, and Kevin Williams lead back-to-back L.A. City Football titles. Some called them the Dream Team. We all knew about them :)
Merry Christmas!
I do my best to have a Merry Christmas and when someone decides to break in line I try to smile and give a Merry Christmas to them. Sometimes they say they are sorry, but I let them know it is fine. Other times people will look at me and say, "I don't use that saying any more". Then I say, "Well have a Happy New Year" and one man looked at me and said, "I don't say that either." After that I just feel sorry for them
Hi Paul, it is very sad when people are like that :( So sensitive and uptight. What has the world come to? Christmas is about love, hope and joy. It's simple. We had an atheist man sue the city next-door to us for 25 years straight over the long-standing traditional nativity scenes, that were life-size and always placed on the center grass of it's main street. People would drive for miles to see them.
I don't take offense, like you - I just think people really need a smile and some kindness. Merry Christmas and thank you for reading :)
It’s honestly been such a blessing to get to know you Kristin. I will always remember reading your piece, last summer, about what it was like in a big city hospital for you and how life was during 2020 and crying. There are so many stories to tell and I pray our hearts can be open to all of them. Everyone was a victim of powerful overreach. We all need great empathy as we move into 2025, cause I believe much will be uncovered. It will be heavy. We will continue our friendship and we will most definitely chat on my podcast at some point. Thank you and love you. ox