Word Rambling towards Christmas

I do not mean to “word ramble” here but I just realized that  the first Tuesday of the month is a few days away. That is also my CWG blog post date. Bottom line–this Catholic writer has nothing to offer here, nothing except rambling meanderings. Yeah, I know, Tuesday is still a few days away but I  have to get this to Barb to edit and post. However, I’m out of here at noon today, tomorrow is shot and I cannot, in good conscience, send her something Monday–so, here you go.

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I love the season and the meaning and the Baby Jesus, the awe in the faces of so many children and the extra smiles that come from the wonder; I love the cookies and candy and cake and even some of the anxiety and pressure and insanity that mixes in as we move forward. I even love eggnog.

More than anything, I love thinking about our Blessed Mother, a young girl, almost full-term in her pregnancy, having to travel on the back of a donkey for over 80 miles to fulfill the census law. I marvel at  her husband who must have just loved her so much that he was willing to accept this Child as his own. He protected them with his life and made sure that the Savior of all mankind lived to complete His mission. This was, after all, a very different time culturally. Mary’s alternative could have been death by stoning. Thank you, St. Joseph. Thank you, Mother Mary. Thank you, Jesus.

I began this day at 5 AM, preparing my wife’s medications for the week. There are fourteen different pills she takes at different times during the day for varied reasons and I do this every week. So, I pour a cup of coffee and spread the pill bottles in a row in front of my still-squinty eyes. I have a pill box with four rows of sevens so I can prepare meds for the entire week. The morning row gets five pills in each box, the noon row gets four, etc. When I am finished there are 112 pills sorted out for the week. I am proud of my system…most of the time.

I finish placing the the last pills in place and reach over to get the coffee. Ah yes, life is always an adventure. You know I knocked over the coffee, right? As I did, I leaned onto the pill box and it flipped, ever so gracefully, end over end into the air spraying its newly received contents everywhere. Okay–you get the picture. Pills on the floor, pills on the table floating in coffee (too bad they were not donuts) and me staring, mouth hung open, in disbelief. However, God has blessed me with a sense of humor. I took a breath and began to laugh. Then I created some dialogue for the moment. I raised my hands, looked out across my random pill and coffee display, and said, “You are an idiot!” Then I laughed some more and began Round Two of the weekly pill dissemination. That time I succeeded.

I will finish this up by telling you I made it to eight o’clock Mass with the wife at my side. What better way to start a day, right? I have no idea how the rest of this day will play out. No matter what, it will be OK. The Season of Advent is upon us. In closing, I would like to wish you all a beautiful, blessed,  healthy and joy-filled Christmas.

“Celebrate the feast of Christmas every day, even every moment in the interior temple of your spirit, remaining like a baby in the bosom of the heavenly Father, where you will be reborn each moment in the Divine Word, Jesus Christ.”
St. Paul of the Cross   (Catholicquotes.org)

©LarryPeterson 2015