? STORYTIME TAPESTRY

The Newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world

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Christmas Contest? 

Dec 11, 2005? 

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Today??™s Announcements:

Day two of the Christmas contest and again we have three submissions from our most adorable Sharon Bryant.

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? I am? very happy to announce that 2,394 Christmas cards have arrived for our troops.?  I have not yet counted the email greetings that have arrived.? ?  Four camps will benefit from these cards totaling over 1,600 soldiers.?  My thanks to all who have mailed a card.

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Tuesday is the deadline for email greetings.?  If you'd like to wish a soldier a Merry Christmas, please get your greetings into me no later than Monday.?  It only takes a moment to touch a life.

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My thanks to NBC network, Fox? network and 101.1 THE SOURCE radio, ? who helped make this possible this year.

A special thank you to all schools that helped with the beautiful cards the kids made.

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God Bless,
Sharon Bryant

Operation We Care

1946@bellsouth.net

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Now on to the good stuff..........

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Today's Christmas Contest Stories
~**~**~**~

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? WHAT HAPPENED?? 

? Sharon Bryant

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Since Friday I've wondered what's happened.?  I think about years ago and what was then compared to what is now.?  I'm not sure what has happened, I just know something has.

I wonder if it's about money or is it greed??  I wonder what is? told in households around the country today.

Surely it can't be the way it was when I was a child.

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I wonder how long the wonder of believing lasts today for a child.?  I wonder if some are pushing fast afraid it may not be available a year from now, two years.?  I have? wondered a lot of things since Friday.

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You see, I went to a store to buy some dish soap.?  That's all I needed.?  I had to push myself through rows of decorations.?  Rows of Christmas ornaments, teddy bears with "Christmas 2005" on them, wrapping paper, bows, dishes, cups, everything printed with red, gold, white colors.

It's not even Halloween until tomorrow.?  It's not Thanksgiving until a month.?  I didn't see anything on the shelves for Thanksgiving.?  Just Christmas.

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Let me take you back to just a few short years ago.?  Christmas was different where I come from.?  I don't remember shelves stocked with ornaments, trees, paper, bows.?  I don't even recall my parents buying ornaments for the tree.?  We made them.?  I think nothing is greater than sitting with our family, everyone having a needle and thread, picking up pieces of popcorn and stringing them on the thread.?  My brother and I used to see who could make the longest strand.?  We'd be so proud to watch mom and dad decorate the tree with something we had made.?  Oh, there were some glass ornaments mom had saved for years.?  But there were more paper and tiny wood? ornaments my brother and I had made.?  There was the old pine cone I'd made when I was six.?  The little red ribbon was still intact.?  There was that cute fake gingerbread ornament my brother made.?  How we loved to look at each ornament and remember who made it for the tree.

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There were no gifts beneath our tree days before Christmas.?  Oh no, we had to wait for Santa to sneak in while we were sleeping.?  No matter how hard I tried for many years to stay awake and catch him, I never could.

Those were the days when Christmas was a mystery of what was in the packages on Christmas morning.? 

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I can never forget all those Christmas mornings when the tree would be lit, hot cocoa would be steaming from the old teapot, and the aroma of cinnamon rolls in the oven made our mouth water.

We didn't count how many packages we received.?  We didn't say, "you got more than me."?  We were just tickled Santa remembered us.?  We were kids, it was the 50's and life was good.

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I guess what I'd like to know today is what happened to Christmas??  Why do we have Christmas goods on shelves two months before Christmas gets here??  And what happened to Thanksgiving??  Is it the forgotten Holiday today??  Last week those same shelves were stocked with Halloween goodies, but replaced by all the Christmas goodies this week.

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I just wonder one thing.?  What does Jesus feel when he looks down on his children today??  If I were Jesus, I would be sad.?  Sad to know that so many no longer know the true meaning of Christmas.

In case you're as old as I am, wouldn't it be wonderful to have this world just one more time, bring back Christmas like it used to be?

Sharon Bryant

1946@bellsouth.net

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? ? THE HOLIDAYS

? Sharon Bryant

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It's that time of year again......Holidays approaching, stores displaying Christmas ornaments, ads on television, and yet, even after all these years, I still get a tug at? my heart as Christmas nears.

Someone told me yesterday how many shopping days there are and I thought, "I'm not ready yet."

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Many write me and ask what they can do to make the Holidays easier after a child has died.?  Many tell me it's their first, 5th, 10th year, and this one seems to be the worst.?  Looking back on the past 28 years, I don't know which one was the worst for me.?  Some still are, some are ok, I never know until that day gets here.

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I wonder if this will be the year I can get out the old movie films, and see my child when he was alive.?  I wonder if this is going to be the year I can get through one Christmas without that queasy feeling that comes over me every year.?  I wonder if I'll feel like cooking dinner.?  I wonder about a lot of things.

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Some write me and ask me if I've found 'closure.'?  I've written articles on my feelings on closure and for me, there is none.?  My life has went on all these years, but the heart tugs remain.?  I never know when they will grab me and take me back to? different times.?  Truthfully, I never know what I will feel every single morning that I wake up.?  I never know if a memory will be there when I open my eyes.?  Or something I see on the news may trigger a long ago memory.?  I've learned that each day can be different and I never know what each day will bring.

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Right now with Thanksgiving around the corner, I keep thinking of past years.?  So many of my family is now gone.?  I lost an aunt this spring, and an uncle this summer.?  My mom is gone, my one brother is gone, my son is gone.?  There's only dad, my sister, my?  brother and myself left.?  My sister keeps wanting me to drive the thousand miles to come home for Christmas.?  "Let's try and recapture what it used to be," she says.?  I think to myself, "How can we do that?"?  Nothing is what it used to be.?  Everything in our lives have changed.?  What I would give to go back just one more time when we were all together and tragedy had not yet struck our lives.

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I don't know if I'll put up a tree this year.?  I haven't the last? two years, so I doubt if this year will be different.?  The last time I tried, it was hard to look at the ornaments from so long ago.?  I don't know if I'll wrap the gifts I'll buy for my remaining son, and my daughter.?  Sometimes, it just seems so hard.?  Again, I just don't know.

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Someone asked me this past week, "How have you managed to get through the Holidays all these years?"?  I replied, "Some I haven't."?  Some years I want to be alone.?  Two years ago as my son was opening a gift, my heart tugged looking at him, silently asking why I didn't have two sons opening presents.? 

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Right now I'm worried about some photos in the old album.?  Recently I got it out and noticed some are fading and getting spots and my heart sank.?  What if they all fade away??  What will I have left then of a child I lost so long ago??  How could I cope if I lost all my photos?

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I really don't know what this Holiday will bring.?  I don't know what I will feel a week from now.?  I can't think of Holiday spirit right now.?  Perhaps it will come as Christmas nears.

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Sharon Bryant

www.angelsremembered.tk

In memory of my son Andy

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THE WEBS WE WEAVE

Sharon Bryant

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Yesterday a woman from a school many miles away, brought me a box of Christmas cards made by the kids.?  She said, "There is one that will break your heart, I started crying when I read it.?  You'll know it when you see it."

I wondered what a child could have written to a soldier that would tug at the heart strings of this adult.

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I was reading each card and letter the kids made when I came across the one I knew the lady was talking about.?  I quote:

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?  "Dear Soldier, I am so sorry that you cannot be with your family this year for Christmas.?  I wish my family could be together too.?  I have never met my grandfather because him and my dad had a fight.?  Merry Christmas soldier."

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Immediately I thought of my own grandfather whom I had fifteen years with.?  The love I always had for him, the things he taught me and the memory of crawling up into his lap and having him rock me to sleep as a child.

He taught me how to paint a boat when I was young.?  He taught me how to shoot bow and arrow and knock a baseball? halfway across the field.?  ?  He taught me respect, and so much more.?  My memories are priceless.

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I wondered what could have created the feelings so badly between son and father that lasted all these years.?  I wondered why one of them could not swallow their pride and pick up the phone and say, "I'm sorry."?  I wondered if they both realized how much their actions were affecting this little girl.

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My mom and grandma always used to say........"The webs we weave."?  I can't help but wonder what kind of web this family wove to cause so much hurt.?  Why they can't realize that we only pass through this way one time and our trip sometimes can be shortened by tragedy.? 

The webs we weave can be passed on to innocent children.

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Sharon Bryant

1946 @bellsouth.net

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About Me:

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I am Sharon Bryant,? 59 years old and reside in Alabama. I lost my child in 1977 when he was five and I write articles on bereavement often. I am a chocolate/candy maker and also a wood crafter and knitter. I am married to a wonderful man, and have two remaining children, a daughter 26,
Amy, and a second son, Randy, age 24.

My main goal in life is to help those who
have lost a child. My website is: www.angelsremembered.tk

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Writers Feedback

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Carol,

? ? ?  I greatly enjoyed your new article.?  I think that your idea on gifts

of praise and encouragement is wonderful.?  I can rarely remember the gifts I get at Christmas each year, but I have had kind words that have stayed in my heart, soul, and mind my whole life.

Merry Christmas my friend.?  Keep up the wonderful writings and brilliant ideas.?  Wishing you every joy, Joe

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? SENIOR WRITERS

Chief Writer: Sharon Bryant

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? Agee, Vance;? Apted, Violet;? Baker, Kathy; Batt, Al;?  Berry, Nell; Blaine, Pamela

Boda, Ginger;? ? Buhagiar, Victor; Cassady, B.J.;?  Cavalera, Robyn; Crider, Mark;? 

Deming, Barb; Doherty, Maria; Goodier, Steve; Halley, Ellie Braun;

Harris, Kathy Anne;? Hunt, Sharlette;? 

Jacobson, Gary;? Kiser, Roger Dean; Kerens, Claudia; Jenkins, Pamela;

Liles, Norma; Lilly, Jodi Flesberg; Lock, Joyce; Mazzella, Joe;? Morris, Deepak; Ojeigbe, Georgewaters;

?  Petry, Dianna Doles; Roberts, Susan;?  Shiveley, Debra; Shaw, Bob; Sims, Richard; Streidel, Saskia; Swarner, Ken; Vaknin, Sam; Verhoeff, Jan

Walker, Bill; Walker, Joe;? Warner, Gorden K; Walsh, Sue

Weymouth, Barbara; Whirity, Kathy;? White, Robert;

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STORYTIME TAPESTRY STAFF

Publisher: Carol Roach-founder

Moderator: Thelma Hartselle-co founder

Moderator: Clara Westerfer

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