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1. For the perfectly, slightly chilled glass of Sauvignon Blanc wine that I toast to all my family, friends and acquaintances, new and long-time. I love you all dearly. You’ve helped form me into who I am today.
2. I’ve survived 2020 by wearing a mask.
3. That I still use my time productively as a writer.
4. That I’ve been in touch with my first Maid of Honor and she is healthy and still single, by choice, too.
5. For all the various jobs I worked at that gave me a full life of experience and empathy.
6. For all the people who have entered my life and made a difference. Some turned me onto a different path…and it was good.
7. For the angels who watch over me when I make stupid mistakes…or maybe they were just lessons to learn.
8. Music in my life. It can create a memory to write about or to just enjoy.
9. To have loved and been loved…the greatest reward on earth.
10. For those who overlook my scars and impurities and like me anyway, maybe even love me in their own way.

1. A lifetime of wonderful Christmas memories.
2. To have been able to give generously with my heart.
3. I’ve learned how to receive gifts graciously.
4. To share love and encouragement wherever I can.
5. Christmas carols, who cares if I’m off key.
6. To have a laptop that brings the world to me.
7. To have a laptop that allows me to explore anywhere in the world.
8. For the many writing projects completed with joy this year.
9. For new writing projects starting in January. I love starting something new.

For my family and friends even though I don’t see them all.

It was a busy pre-Christmas week at the fort even though we were stuck out in the wilderness surrounded by fields that lay fallow where beyond that the forests, full of a huge variety of trees, was found a gorgeous tree perfect for a Christmas celebration.

This was a new item added to a long list of traditions brought in by the assortment of people who immigrated from European countries, all of us seeking the freedom this country, still young in the mid –nineteenth century, offered in settling their far northwest.

For the last three days we were under siege by an angry tribe of natives although we had made peace with the tribes who lived in the region, enjoying and sharing what we had to offer including our stories from the old country about the Christmas season.

I was hoping and praying they would come to our rescue since we became personal friends with mostly everyone in the tribes as they were invited to come and go freely in our homes.

Our abundant harvest reassured us of holding out for a long time but our ammunition was quite another matter without a general store around the corner to replenish our supply.

All of a sudden the arrows and bullets noticeably lessened, so I gazed over the wall of the fort to see a vast number of blue uniforms atop thundering horses rising out of the horizon full of the sunshine lighting up the land at the river, knowing instantly that we were saved to live and share our Christmas Day with many guests of soldiers and natives at our tables.

1. Hot cocoa on a cold night.
2. Pleasant voice on the phone when asking for a return or refund.
3. Christmas cards or ecards from friends.
4. A new calendar to enjoy a new year.
5. A plumber saying yes, he’ll come out, when the situation gets desperate.
6. Water flowing down the drain easily, so thankful.
7. Dark chocolate. Yum.
8. The poetry of others.
9. Christmas carols, some hundreds of years old.
10. Old letters wrapped in ribbon.

Jane Austen. . . know that your words still influence readers and give us all much enjoyment.

It’s Christmas, time for presents and trees.

Enjoy egg nog, cookies and peppermint sticks.

Watch out for the wee elf to play his tricks.

The cold weather encourages furry wraps.

Santa and his reindeer driving long range.

After the holiday comes the gifts to Change.

1. Businesses who paint holiday scenes on their windows in Dec. making the town look festive and keeping the old time feel to it.
2. People who decorate and light their homes for the holidays, so joyful during these short days and long, dark nights.
3. Writers who share their lives by writing memoirs, sometimes in poetic form, or essays or prose. They help readers to understand lives different than their own.
4. People who love cards as much as I do even though this year I am sending more ecards for the holidays.
5. Jacquie Lawson for creating interesting and beautiful greeting cards that I can enjoy sending and I can read those received over and over.
6. Jacquie Lawson for her 3-D Advent Calendar that is restorative, restful-memory inducing, and just plain joyful.
7. Simmering Potato-Leek Soup’s aroma filling the air in my home on a cold wintry morning.
8. Prayer groups, thankfully prayers work.
9. Stretching exercises after sitting too long at the computer.
10. Trees that filter the air and clean it for us.

My normal Monday morning routine was to make a deposit at the bank from last Saturday’s take, but this time I first slipped into my brother’s recently-opened Bistro kitchen on the way to see how he was adjusting to his new way of life. There is nothing like jumping into an unfamiliar field with lots of challenges to mend a broken heart or at least concentrate on something positive instead of moaning in sorrow. It didn’t surprise me that he went into the food business even though he didn’t know the difference between a hamburger and a pork chop when we were kids.

We came from a long list of family professional cooks who were now all gone, so he depended on me to remember Mom’s ways of cooking and the recipes she carried in her head. Professionally I was in the book business but started out working in a luncheonette while in high school and followed up working in restaurants and taverns for many years after that, loving that line of work. This morning he asked my opinion on placing particular items on his next Menu change as he wanted to keep it fresh, mouth-watering and exciting, so his customers would repeat coming often.

What If by Charlene Ellington

What if

we just treated one another

with kindness, compassion

What if

 we allowed others their point of view

with no animosity

 anger or fighting because of it

What if

we took care of Mother Earth

so she can take care of us with ease

What if

greed didn’t exist

What if

 we all did the right thing

What if

we knew there is enough for everyone

so we share freely

with an open heart

What if

we listened to our gut instinct

What if

unconditional love ruled 

always