Christmas Presence

  This Christmas we are away from family and friends. The decision to leave was mine, and I wonder if I'm flawed, like a sweater with a snag, or worse, a defect in the domestic fabric of motherhood. I feel so overwhelmed at this time of year when other wives and mothers immerse themselves in the traditions of the season. Part of what makes leaving a little easier is that we both have families living close by that we see regularly, so, with our children, my husband and I come to an island in the sea this year. There will be no usual Christmas activities and obligations. And, as if to justify missing the snowfall at home, I imagine that a balmy breeze is truer to the nativity setting in Bethlehem anyway.  I have brought along a book, Gift From The Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, in which she comments on the luxury of choice many of us in our North American culture have, including me, between complexity and simplification of life. "For the most part, we who could choose simplifica...

  The owner of a Michigan Avenue restaurant called me with a problem that frequently comes up at Christmas. He had planned a party at his place for 100 needy children. But for some reason he had only half that many coming. Now, with the party only two days off, he was frantically trying to find an extra fifty needy children. "Do you know where I can get them?" he said. I asked if he had tried an orphanage. He hadn't, so I gave him the name of one. He called back a few minutes later and said: "No luck. They're already taken." All I could do was suggest that he keep trying, call orphanages and social agencies. But I warned him to expect disappointment. He had waited much too long. When you get down to the last week before Christmas, the needy children - especially orphans - already have been pretty well picked over. Last year, on Christmas Eve afternoon, a very angry young woman called. She and some friends had just rounded up old clothes and old toys to give ...

Benefit for Hope International Michael Hart, Garth Bowen, Ron Reed ACT ONE  michael | all hail and welcome garrison keillor | seven principles of a successful christmas michael | three generations judy graves | god's christmas party garth | god rest ye john henry faulk | a child's christmas in texas (1379) garth | go tell it mike royko | pretty well picked over michael | the holly and the ivy ACT TWO  garth | christmas song (alleluia) david kossoff | seth michael | joy to the world sheila rosen | no safe place garth | silent night