Christmas 2013 - a Family Time

It is Christmas Eve, almost Christmas Day, 2013.

I am spending the holidays with loved ones, and I hope each of you have warm and peaceful days to remember and to make memories. 

 Thanksgiving ran right into making plans for the holidays. With a quick and busy visit to south Georgia my strength and perseverance were strained but not so much as was that of my sister, Gay, who hosted an absolutely lovely dinner today.

Christmas Day I will spend with family also – and be a guest at another Christmas dinner.  How fortunate we are to have family and to want to be together.

My immediate family, cousins and friends gathered in May this year at Lake Blackshear Resort

 Although many of my loved ones have passed on, and I am one of three siblings left, I was delighted to see the next generation carrying on our annual Christmas party that was begun years ago as a birthday celebration for my mother and her sister who were both born December 23. 

Lois Robison Council and her sister, Mildred R. Whitley

My mother, Lois Robison Council, would be 109 years old if she were living today. How I still miss her. If she had been at the party in her house, she would have met her great-great grandson, Elliott, who is not yet two years old. In my mind, I can see her smile as she hugged that little boy. He would have loved her.

I was told that I reminded some people of my mother. “You were channeling Aunt Lois,” my cousin Ginger said to me. I thanked her for the compliment. 

I enjoyed talking to the “kids” as we once called my nieces and nephews, one of whom is the grandfather of Elliott. 

As I sat in the same spot where my mother used to wait up for me when I was out on a date, sat in the place where her chair sat so many years ago, in the house that was my home until I met Barry and married him, I traveled back in time. The day I left to marry my soul mate, I cried as though my life were ending. Always fearful of change, I had no way of knowing I was embarking on a great adventure with the person sent to me to make my life complete. I only knew how much I was going to miss my home and my mother.

H. Barry Beall 

This Christmas marks five years without Barry. I don't think I will ever get used to his empty chair at the table. He is not forgotten. We tell stories and remember his humor, his large presence in our lives. But life goes on, holidays come and go, and I have much to look forward to in 2014.

I hope your New Year brings good health, peace, joy, and a life free from fear, anxiety and undue stress. Most of all I wish you time to stop and see the wonders of this world that surround you every day. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thank you all for reading my blog. You are the best.