NEW TRADITIONS

It’s not even Thanksgiving yet and I am being bombarded by holiday memories. As good as those memories are, they are accompanied with so much sadness about what will never be again.

Those previous two sentences don’t sound like someone who is grateful while the waves of memories wash over me. But I am thankful because I am starting to move forward, one baby step at a time, into making new memories that can live side by side with the old ones.

For Thanksgiving, every year, John made stuffing and was so happy when the family loved every morsel. We didn’t make the dinner last year, but this year, we’ll make the dinner, his stuffing included. To change things up a bit, we’re also going to have a Star Wars marathon in our new Christmas pajamas. Ok, ok, we might have to sneak in a little football as well!

I was going Christmas shopping with Maggie a couple of weeks ago, and she told me that Starbucks was introducing all of its new Christmas drinks that day. We drank our coffee and laughed over silly things, and decided on the spot, that this was a new tradition to add to our list of new memories.

For those who are grieving, estranged from families, sick or taking care of the sick, this can be a difficult season. Let’s look around our churches and neighborhoods and see if someone needs an invitation to lunch, dinner or coffee.

Please remember to stay connected with others. I will be on my Saturday widows’ group every week through the holidays. Our group has become so connected that several are coming to California after Christmas! Who would have thought a person could get so connected to others on weekly zoom calls?

1 Chronicles 16:34, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His love endures forever.”