Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

December 21, 2007

Today’s Announcement

*** Important notice, the two poems presented today in the contest do not have an author.  Would the author please step up so that I can enter you in the contest.***

The Christmas Contest is under way, everyday I will add stories and poems that were published so far, if your work has not yet been published it will not show on this page under it does.

Christmas is just around the corner and most of you have already started to think about Christmas gifts for this season.  Why not help out Storytime Tapestry with its ongoing commitment to provide you with free wonderful stories and poems daily by purchasing the publisher’s newest book for someone special on your holiday gift giving list this year.  Angels Watching Over Me can be published through lulu press in both hard copy and e-book.  Just click on the link:  Angels Watching Over Me

Important notice: Storytime Tapestry is a free e-zine, however donations are always needed to help with the operating expenses of running the newsletter and to keep Storytime Tapestry the quality newsletter you are so accustomed to.   You can make your donations to paypal at: winterose@videotron.ca, or if you would prefer to use the mail system contact the publisher at the same email address: winterose@videotron.ca

Today’s Christmas Stories

~**~**~

 I Walked the Halls

 Sharon Bryant

Reading about death and dying brings back many memories.  Memories of the days I have walked the halls of Children's Hospital in my area, meeting every single child in the hospital at Christmas time.

It all began when I volunteered one year to give a hand in the activity room.  My two hour stay which was scheduled, turned out to be eight hours of memories.

The next year I formed Angels Remembered.  That year I received many stuffed animals from bereaved parents all over the U.S.  In the memory of their child, I gave every child at Children's Hospital a stuffed animal for Christmas.  With three wagons being rolled behind me, stuffed with the animals, I and the guide I was given, walked the halls together.

I wasn't prepared one year to enter the infant room.  It is a room I will never forget. 

Cribs were in cubicles, parents sitting next to the cribs.  Some parents crying, some sitting with their head in their hands, bent over.  The pain was evident.  The sight I saw was heart breaking.  Crib after crib with tiny little people, all so very ill. 

I'll always remember the mom holding her newborn child in her arms.  She was crying as I reached her cubicle, and our eyes met for a brief moment.  I couldn't help but notice the waxy look on her baby's face, and the feeling of death was so strong.  I remember I was at a loss for words.  What words are there when a mother is holding her dying baby?  There are none.  "I'm so sorry" isn't enough. 

Instead, I softy said, "I think you could use an angel."  I laid a angel bear in the corner of that little crib.  My heart was beating so fast, I knew I had to move on or I'd break down in front of the mom.  I couldn't do that.  Our eyes met for another brief moment and all I could say was, "God Bless you and your baby."

Cancer victims, automobile accidents, children hurt by the hands of some monster.  Each child had a silent story they could tell if they were old enough.  I was still clutching a beautiful teddy bear that a man had mailed me from Ohio.  "I have one request with this teddy bear," his letter had said.  "Please give it to a little girl who is four-years-old with cancer, the same age my daughter was when she died."

As I neared one door, my guide said, "Four years old, terminal cancer."  I knew I had found the room that father in Ohio hoped I would.  I'll never forget the face on that little girl.  Nor the shine in her eyes when I handed her that teddy bear.

I've been dressed up like an Elf some years.  Like Mrs. Santa Claus others.  Some years I was just me.

No matter what I wore, no matter what year it was, the hospital was always full. 

My own daughter was a patient there once.  I'll always remember the wonderful nurses and doctors who took care of her after her surgery.  She has always kept the shirt they gave her with the words "Children's Hospital" on it.  She kept the teddy bear someone handed to her when she came out of the recovery room.

I'll always remember the cancer victims.  Some so sick, yet they still managed to smile when I walked into their rooms with an armful of stuffed animals. 

Some years I had television stations with me.  Some years we sang Christmas songs to the kids.  Some years no words could be spoken when my heart would break when I knew a child would not live long enough to see Christmas the next year. 

I believe when you walk the halls of any Children's hospital, you truly learn how precious life really is.

You see heartache at it's greatest.  You see pain.  But most of all you see love.

In memory of my own child, I give to others. 

Sharon Bryant

www.angelsremembered.tk

~**~**~

  The Abbreviated Christmas

- XMAS -

 Joyce C. Lock

If you are like me (one of the seemingly fewer who remain to never use the letter "X" to abbreviate the word "Christmas"), you may not care to consider Wikipedia's explanation.  But, if spelling "Christmas" as "xmas" is your preference, you might appreciate knowing how the "X" in "xmas" began.

According to Wikipedia, the word "Christmas" is a contraction meaning "Christ's mass".  It is derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes m?sse, a phrase first recorded in 1038.

In early Greek versions of the New Testament, the letter Χ (chi), is the first letter of Christ (Χριστός).  Since the mid-sixteenth century, Χ or the similar Roman letter X, was used as an abbreviation for Christ and is still used in shorthand, today.

If you would like to know more, follow the links on Wikipedia's Christmas page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas

For me, to use the abbreviated version of "Christmas" is like abbreviating the person, Christ.  But for those who perceive it otherwise, let each be persuaded in their own mind.

© 2007 by Joyce C. Lock

http://iam.homewithGod.com/glimpsesofgod/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/glimpsesofgod

This article may be used in its entirety, with credits in tact,
for non-profit ministering purposes.

Christmas Poetry Corner

~**~**~

A Gift Of Love

HE was given in love, came for whosoever will

Paid the supreme sacrifice, Died on Calvary's Hill

Buried in another man's tomb, but on the third day HE did arise

And with the victory HE claimed HE was caught up in the sky

Yet, HE sent back his love, the precious Holy Ghost you see,

The promise of HIS    presence, guidance for you and me

We are never alone, for HIS   Spirit we can feel

And may we never have to ask ourselves if GOD is really real

For HE lives within our hearts and we live in HIS mind

And HE never forgets or leaves us alone at any time.

~**~**~

God's Decorating

Well Christmas is soon coming and the year is growing old

The weather has allowed us to share in the sleet, ice, snow, and cold

But spring is coming soon, we will behold it with our eyes

The green grass and budding trees, how beautifully they come alive

I too, have been young, awaited with such longing my adult years

Now I also wait and watch as my body ages and gives new fears

I'm growing older but getting the spirit for the time is coming soon you see

I'm going to make a move on up higher when my Lord is ready for me.

But HE too is decorating, putting in me love, joy and peace of mind

Preparing me for my journey when the last hill here I will climb

But my decorations blow fuses and God has to redo things HE has already done

To get me ready to move on up to meet HIS blessed Son.

Sometimes I get sin blots that show or wrinkle up my dress

so HE rearranges my attire, by putting more time of prayer on my list

Then HE patiently covers my stains and wipes away my tears

Yes!  I am slowly being made ready as I hurry through these years.

sixty-five plus have roared past with me in them, like a train upon its tracks

And I am praying as God makes improvements, for HIM to take me home to be  with HIM

and my loved ones too (when our time is up) and that's a fact!

Readers Feedback

~**~**~

Re Weathering thoughts by Dianna Doles Petry                    There are so many little truths, so much wisdom that our parents and grand parents hold.  We should listen--  We assume too much in the turning of the calendar.  Life happens.  The ground holding it isn’t solid.   Is that an earthquake I feel?          Louise

Hi Cheryl--  Thanks for asking...my thoughts are:  I don't let
commercials dictate to me the reason for the season. I love giving and
will not use a credit card to buy gifts. I buy or give what I can
afford (many have been handmade over the years) and believe that giving
is far better than receiving. (Though receiving is fun also, I don't
want or expect my family to go in debt to buy me a gift!) Each year my
husband and I buy for at least one needy child on an angel or Operation
Santa Claus tree. I enjoy most every carol (my favorite station plays
them from Thanksgiving to Christmas) as a free gift to me...except for
a few stupid ones that get under my skin like Madonna's "Santa Baby"
(the commercialism song from the material girl, I call it).

Next year, I am considering not even buying from businesses that won't
allow their employees to say Merry Christmas to their customers and
plan to let management know they lost a sale if this is the case. That
"brainstorm" is too late for this year as my gift buying is completed.
Blessings for truly Merry Christmas to you and yours and all the
Storytime readers. --Kay

~**~**~

Here are the Published Christmas entries to Date.  If you want to review the stories or poems before voting which will come only at the end of this contest, just go to the archives:  http://archives.zinester.com/98907

Stories

Name                    Story                                                 Date

Williams, Cheryl           Christmas: Look forward to it ….         December 20,

Haley, Ellie Braun         A Christmas Story                                December 20,

Sharon Bryant              I Walked The Halls                               December 21

Joyce Lock                  Abbreviated Christmas             December 21

Poems

Name                    Poem                                                 Date

Cardinal, Conrad          Make a Wish Come True                                 December 20,

Cardinal, Conrad          Why?                                                               December 20,

                                    A Gift Of Love                                     December 21

                                    God’s Decorating                                             December 21

Here is our Storytime Tapestry Angels: Also, I would like to thank those of you who chose to be a silent angel and gave an anonymous donation to keep Storytime Tapestry up and running.

Clara Westerfer, Mark Crider, Rosanne Catalano, Paula Booher, Kay Seefeldt, Mariane Holbrook, Mary Ellen Grisham, Louise Nomani, Sharon Bryant, Angela Walker, Hart and Helen Dowd, Keith Ready, Ginger Morgenstern, Ellie Braun-Haley, Surinder Jandu, Bob Shaw, Carol Meeks, Charlotte Hilliard, Maria Keller