Archive - December 2012

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from all of us here at the Mac and Cheese house.  We woke to beautiful, freshly fallen snow and it has just started snowing again. I have tried to say something pithy here about love and loss and grief and hope, but nothing sounds right.  So instead, I will share with you my favorite non-carol Christmas song. Merry Christmas!

Remember

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The holidays can be a very painful time if you have lost a child.

There is a an emptiness that cannot be filled and these days of love and joy and togetherness just emphasize that hole in your heart.

I have a sign like the one above,but I haven’t hung it since Christmas 2003. I think about it every year, wondering if this is the year. No, not this year. This year it stays in the closet.

2012 might be the year. I think I might just be able to put it out, next to the Nativity scene, on Rebecca’s birthday – December 22nd. We’ll see.

December 9th is the Annual Worldwide Candle Lighting to honor and remember the children who have died. By lighting a candle for one hour at 7 PM, your local time, we can create a 24 wave of light. Will you join me this year? Pray for those family whose grief is new this year as well as for those whose hearts at heavy at the thought of yet another holiday without their child. It doesn’t get easier, really. You just learn how to cope.

Bear In the Backyard

We are well used to the wildlife here by now.  Still, it is cause for excitement when a bear shows up in our backyard.  We haven’t actually seen *that*, but we know it has happened.  Our current bear friend actually frequents the creek that is behind our house.

This picture shows the top edge of our fence, to get a perspective of where the bear is in relationship to our house.

We’ve been watching this guy all summer.  He was particularly taken with a drain pipe that empties into the creek.  He sits on it, looking cute and thinking his bear thoughts.

Think, think, think. (Picture is a little fuzzy because it was taken through the window screen.)

We’ve seen him a couple of times a week for the last few months.

I’ve had my suspicions that he’s going to take up residence in there for his long winter’s nap.  Bears don’t really hibernate, did you know?  They have a “winter lethargy”.  (Me, I get a summer lethargy.)

I was right.  The children have been watching him tear up the dead grass on the creek bank and carry it back to his cave.  He’s got quite a cozy nest going there.

Here he is a few days ago, trying to decide if he needed just a little more cushioning.

How cool is that?

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