Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Friday, December 13, 2019

A very different Christmas

1982  - and not a penny to my name.   It was the day before Xmas. I was a single mother with two children and my son’s birthday was on Xmas day. I was feeling terribly sad and not knowing what to do. In a walk to the letterbox to check the mail with no thought in my mind, I opened the post box to find an envelope in it with a R100 check in the envelope made out to me. There was no sender and it was a bank cheque.
I drove my clapped out beetle, with no floorboards, so the children had to sit with their feet on the seats as we could watch the tar passing by as we drove and I went to the bank and asked them who had sent the check to me. They told me that it was an anonymous gift.
That R100 made the most wonderful Christmas with food and presents including a special one for my birthday child.
I have never forgotten that Christmas donation and every Christmas since that day, I have found a family to repeat the gift that was given to me.
It was also that Christmas that we started the tradition of no Christmas gifts for one another but rather a letter written to one another, recounting all the good things that that person had done or had meant to us during the year. It sounds like a simple enough gift, but the letters took a long time to write because it had to incorporate everything good that had come from that person for the entire year. The other rule was that the letter had to be handwritten and had to have a handmade envelope.
That Christmas tradition as a gift has been a tradition since then – no Christmas presents for the three of us but a beautiful letter showing us what we mean to one another.
Getting these gifts of letters ready to be in time for Xmas has to be started on the 1st of December to be in time for the 25th. The only gift that is given is to my son whose birthday he shares with Jesus.
Perhaps you may like to make this a tradition for your Christmas instead of buying into the commercial Xmas that most people turn into a frenzy of buying and over-eating.
I would like to wish you a Christmas that will be filled with good memories for years to come and that the New Year brings you everything you need. Merry Christmas!!

Saturday, December 2, 2017

Christmas From the Heart


It was in in 1982 that I found myself with not a penny to my name and it was the day before Xmas.  I was a single mother with two children and my son’s birthday was on Xmas day.  I was feeling terribly sad and not knowing what to do.  In a walk to the letterbox to check the mail with no thought in my mind, I opened the post box to find an envelope in it with a R100 check in it made out to me.  There was no sender and it was a bank cheque.
I drove my clapped out beetle, with no floorboards, so the children had to sit with their feet on the seats as we could watch the tar passing by as we drove and I went to the bank and asked them who had sent the check to me.  They told me that it was an anonymous gift.
That R100 made the most wonderful Christmas with food and presents including a special one for my birthday child.
I have never forgotten that Christmas donation and every Christmas since that day, I have found a family to repeat the gift that was given to me. 
It was also that Christmas that we started the tradition of no Christmas gifts for one another but rather a letter written to one another, recounting all the good things that that person had done or had meant to us during the year.  It sounds like a simple enough gift, but the letters took a long time to write because it had to incorporate everything good that had come from that person for the entire year.  The other rule was that the letter had to be handwritten and had to have a handmade envelope.
That Christmas tradition as a gift has been a tradition since 1982 – no Christmas presents for the three of us but a beautiful letter showing us what we mean to one another.
Getting these gifts of letters ready to be in time for Xmas has to be started on the 1st of December to be in time for the 25th.  The only gift that is given is to my son whose birthday he shares with Jesus.
Perhaps you may like to make this a tradition for your Christmas instead of buying into the commercial Xmas that most people turn into a frenzy of buying and over-eating.

I would like to wish you a Christmas that will be filled with good memories for years to come and that the new year brings you everything you need.  Merry Christmas!! 

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Christmas Letter to My Children and Grandchildren

Christmas 2015

My precious Niki, Denny, Abbe, Cameron and Olivia

My greatest wish is that my children and grandchildren will always know just how much I love them and know just how proud I am of each.
My greatest desire is that for the rest of their lives they will know that no matter what, I will always be there for them, anyhow I can.
My children are my most precious assets and I will hold them gently and safely in my heart forever.
When I look into the eyes of my children’s children, I look into the face of God.
If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart and I’ll stay there forever. (Winnie the Pooh)
I love you with all my heart.  May you experience a beautiful Christmas and a year ahead that will give you enough of everything you need, with a little more so that you can give some away.

Your Mom /Mooms 

Friday, December 18, 2015

How two Christmas traditions were born ...

How traditions are born

It was Christmas, 1984, and I had no money for anything; not even for a Xmas present for my two children or a birthday present for my son who was born on Xmas day.   I did not have anyone to ask to help me (although I probably would not have done so because at the time I was too proud to ask), and I had run out of all options to fix this catastrophic Christmas day.   I was extremely stressed and very unhappy.  What could I give to my two children to make it a festive day? 
I had to do something, so I told the children that from that Christmas and for every Christmas forever, we would have a new tradition in our home.  Each of us would write a letter to one another talking about what the other had done for them during the year that they appreciated; and how much we loved one another.  The only rule was that the envelope had to be home-made.  Our letters were ready for the next day.

On the 24th, I walked listlessly to the post-box attached to the front gate.   I could see that there was some junk mail pushed into it as well as the free newspaper that was delivered once a week.  I took everything out of the post-box and was sorting through it while walking back to the house.  In the heap of junk mail was an envelope addressed to me. 
Opening the envelope, I found a bank cheque written out to me for R100.00.  There was no note; just that cheque.  One hundred rand was enough to buy food and presents for my children and still have change, unlike today.   I went to the bank to find out if there had been some mistake, but “No”, they said, “that is from an anonymous donor and we cannot tell you the person’s name”.
We had the best Christmas ever – right at the last moment, the afternoon of the 24th December, I was blessed with a gift from some kind stranger.

From 1984, two traditions were born in our family.  We still give no presents to one another at Christmas.  We write one another a letter.  It takes a lot of effort, thinking and time to do those letters.  And the other tradition is that we find a family who are in need and anonymously donate what we can to make another family feel the spirit of the season of goodwill.  

Thursday, December 17, 2015

What is God’s father’s name?

My grandson’s name is Cameron.  He is 5 years old and lives in the United Kingdom.  He was having a conversation with his mum.
“Mum, what is dude’s name who is God’s father?”
“God does not have a father Cam”
“Yes, he does.  What is the dude’s name?”
“What are you talking about my boy?”
“I volunteered to be the dude because he does not have to say any lines.  What is the name of the dude who is God’s father?”
“God does not have a father Cam”
“Yes, he does.  He has a wife and a baby”
“Oh, you mean Joseph?”
“Yes, that’s the dude’s name.  I am going to be in the concert and I am going to be Joseph”.
“That’s wonderful, honey. I am so proud of you”.
“Well, I am only doing it because he doesn’t have to learn any lines”.


Just goes to show – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit – and how we confuse our small children with such things.