Saturday, December 3, 2016
Graniteville • Vaucluse • Warrenville
by Anne Fulcher As I sit here writing this editorial, listening to the snores of two very spoiled dogs, I realize what a charmed life I live. I have a roof over my head, food always on the table, a good job, family and friends that love me…. I’m just so Blessed that I have all these gifts from the Christ Child who was born in a manger on a cold winter’s night. In this era of the me generation, it is so easy to lose sight of what we have instead of what we don’t have. Step back and look at the big picture of your life and look at what you DO have. So much has changed in my life over the past 12 months. I’ve been blessed with a healthy, beautiful granddaughter, graduated with my Master’s degree
and had God put me in a position to be responsible for some of the most amazing senior citizens I could ever image. What gifts I’ve been given all year! The Christmas season has been sensationalized by retail chains who urge us to “buy buy buy!” But, we all know it is not the material things that really matter now. I had a very dear friend lose his precious mother last weekend. He, as I, is an only child and this has torn my friend apart. It’s hard at this time of year to lose a loved one and makes the holiday season take on a sad, dismal feeling. Do you realize this time of year has an increased rate of depression for many reasons? I will never forget what it was like the first year I moved to Virginia. Having moved in August, I did not know many people by the time
Christmas rolled around. Mind you, I moved up there not knowing a soul, just me and Ace, my deaf Jack Russell. Every time I hear the song “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” it brings back emotions of 2008 when living hundreds of miles away from family and friends and how much I cried that first year. Do you know someone who needs the gift of friendship during the Holiday Season? Maybe a new neighbor, someone going through divorce or loss of loved one? Give them the gift of friendship. Offer to share with them the many events that go on in the area during this time of year. Have you run into a customer service representative who seems to be in a bad mood? Give them a gift of a kind word or a piece of candy. One of my residents carries peppermint
Vol. 2, No. 12
with him and he ALWAYS seems to know when I’ve had a bad day. It’s those little gifts that are given unexpectedly that makes it all worthwhile. Take this time of year and look at the Christmas lights and decorations as if you were a child again. Forget all the bad in the world and look at the good and the hope given to us through the birth of the Christ Child…. And end this year with a verse from Do You Hear What I Hear, “said the king to the people everywhere, listen to what I say. Pray for peace, people everywhere! Listen to what I say, The Child, the Child sleeping in the night, He will bring us goodness and light, HE will bring us goodness and light….
Merry Christmas!