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Fill Your Heart With Christmas
FILL YOUR HEART WITH CHRISTMAS
by
Karen A. Lech
It is nearly Christmas Day, December 9, 2005, to be precise.
That leaves us sixteen days until 'THE DAY". I don't know about
your family or your life situation, but at my house, spirits are
high for my twin daughters. School gets out soon for a nice
stretch, and visions of video games dance in their heads.
Unfortunately, this Christmas, they may not be able to swallow
very well the delicacies of the season. On December 22nd, they
are scheduled for tonsillectomies and adenoidectomies. Why would
a nice mother like me do a thing like that? Well, they need to
be off school for at least a ten day period and as they have so
many throat problems, it is best to not wait any longer to get
this matter rectified. Schedules of school holidays, my work
schedule and doctor's schedule necessitate this selected time
for the surgery. So .....
How to celebrate? Well, I am working on creating Gingerbread
pudding, pureed turkey, and very soft mashed potatoes with
gravy. Hopefully, the weekend before Christmas we can bake
Christmas cookies. And as they lie abed, I want to talk to them
about how fortunate they are.
Which brings me to the subject here...Filling your heart with
Christmas.
It really won't be hard for these two fourteen year old girls to
have a happy holiday. Most important is that they are cared for
with patience and love. Their oldest brother and his wife is
coming in from New York. There will be laughter, teasing,
visiting. They have a roof over their heads, warm beds to sleep
and recuperate in, gifts to open, and all the love I can give
them. They also have good health.
Thinking about making this a Merry Christmas for all, in spite
of stereo tonsillectomies, as my mother, sister and her husband,
and my daughter-in-law's mother are coming over, I reflect on
Christmases past. I stroll down memory lane, to remember what
made Christmas so special for me as a child. What can I do to
give as a gift, a good memory of this Christmas, meeting the
needs of each one, giving happiness, and love, to all I can? For
these guests to my home have special needs too. My mother had a
heart attack in October and her health is failing. My brother in
law lost his mother this year. My daughter-in-law and her mom
and dad still mourning the death of her 19 year old brother two
years ago.
How hard is it for a person to fill their heart with Christmas?
My little aunt is in a nursing home. She has bladder cancer. I
visit her and see her sitting in her wheelchair in line with
other residents. One young man is horribly crippled, yet he can
smile and give me a thumbs up when I stop to say hi. There is a
40ish woman with a face so disfigured I did not realize at first
it was a woman, she, too, sits horribly crippled and maimed in
the line up near the nurses' station.
I walk in and see my aunt sitting there, sometimes reading,
sometimes staring off in some reverie. Her glasses are on, hair
combed neatly, dressed in regular clothes. She once weighed
nearly 200 pounds. She is about 106 pounds now, the transitional
cell bladder cancer having grown out of the bladder, extending
its menacing tentacles to who knows where. Arthritis and
weakness have sentenced her to a wheelchair for most of the time
as her means of transport. Her mind is very alert and she looks
up She misses walking, her home, her independence, her ability
to drive. She misses going out Christmas shopping. She misses
going to the bathroom by herself. She misses her privacy. She is
surrounded by unfamiliar people who care for her needs, the
needs she finds are very embarrassing.
My aunt never married. She lived with her mom and dad and still
kept residence in their house after my grandparents
died, until
she became very sick. She has been like a second mom to myself
and my brother and sister for all of our lives, welcoming us and
spoiling us, loving us. I still sit like a child and listen to
her magical way of telling stories of her childhood and what
made it so special. Funny incidents, what scared her as a child,
her memories of happy times.
How can she fill her heart with Christmas? She is just one of
hundreds of thousands.
How can I help?
I get off the train downtown in Chicago and see the man with no
legs on the frozen sidewalk. A can is in front of him with some
change. I watch the passersby .... some without even looking
down, much less into his eyes, semi secretly drop a few coins
into his can or near it. I stop and look at his face and smile.
"Hello, Sir," I say. "Are you warm enough?" I notice newspaper
stuffed in his raggedy jacket. I hand him the fresh paper cup of
Starbuck's I just purchased near the station. He looks at me
like I am crazy. I squat down and ask him......... "How are you
going to celebrate this Christmas?" "Wha the f****" is his
answer.
How can he fill his heart with Christmas?
I smile, pull out a five-dollar bill (being a single mother of
five has ME nearly destitute) and place it in his hand. "Sir," I
say, "I hope you have Christmas in your heart in someway this
year. I'll be praying for you." I give him a Christmas cookie.
He shakes his head, I am occupying his time, his space, and
perhaps blocking other pedestrians from throwing him some
change. Wouldn't it be a wonderful end to this little scenario
to say that I took the man home, fed him clothed him and got him
a job? Alas, I can only share a little love with another human
being in the form of a smile, a cookie, a cup of coffee.
I put love in each Christmas cookie I bake, as it is made with
the thought of the smile it will get from someone, the pleasure
of a unique and memorable taste. I put love in each bow that
goes on a gift I wrap, for under that bow is a box that may
contain something the receiver will take joy in. I put love in
each place setting of the dinner table. "For I was hungry and
you gave Me to eat." Why not make it pretty, too?
Christmas ... the season of Love. The most incredible act of
love was given to all mankind over 2,000 years ago in the form
of an infant who would grow to save us from our sin, be our
friend, and through His love, let us have eternal life with our
Creator. Life is a wonderful gift, eternal life is an incredible
one, mind boggling.
I have learned that each minute makes a memory, and that I stand
on holy ground when I stand next to you. Were I to smile at you
and let you on the bus ahead of me, at some street corner some
day, I would be honored to be near you, for at all times, we are
a breath away from being in the presence of God. We are all one
instant away from the next ... and the next minute is unknown.
That sounds strange to think about at Christmas, doesn't it?
Christmas is not all about cookies, decorations, gifts, how many
lights on a tree, how much you spend, how gaily wrapped are your
gifts. Christmas is about one gift in particular, the give of
LOVE sent in human form ....love so complete, so encompassing,
so miraculous. You will never find love like that anywhere. And
that should fill your heart with Christmas.
Thanks for reading these thoughts I wanted to share... with my
love Karen A. Lech
About the author:
Well, here I am, an author from Richmond, Illinois. A
chatterbox.. always have a lot to say! My first book just came
out in August, 51 POEMS FOR CHILDREN Available on Amazon.com and
Barnes and Noble.com (if you have any children to shop for this
Christmas!) Single mom of five.. Grew up in Chicago, Illinois.
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