I do not mean to “word ramble” here but I just realized that  the first Tuesday of the month is a few days away. That is also my CWG blog post date. Bottom line–this Catholic writer has nothing to offer here, nothing except rambling meanderings. Yeah, I know, Tuesday is still a few days away but I  have to get this to Barb to edit and post. However, I’m out of here at noon today, tomorrow is shot and I cannot, in good conscience, send her something Monday–so, here you go.

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I love the season and the meaning and the Baby Jesus, the awe in the faces of so many children and the extra smiles that come from the wonder; I love the cookies and candy and cake and even some of the anxiety and pressure and insanity that mixes in as we move forward. I even love eggnog.

More than anything, I love thinking about our Blessed Mother, a young girl, almost full-term in her pregnancy, having to travel on the back of a donkey for over 80 miles to fulfill the census law. I marvel at  her husband who must have just loved her so much that he was willing to accept this Child as his own. He protected them with his life and made sure that the Savior of all mankind lived to complete His mission. This was, after all, a very different time culturally. Mary’s alternative could have been death by stoning. Thank you, St. Joseph. Thank you, Mother Mary. Thank you, Jesus.

I began this day at 5 AM, preparing my wife’s medications for the week. There are fourteen different pills she takes at different times during the day for varied reasons and I do this every week. So, I pour a cup of coffee and spread the pill bottles in a row in front of my still-squinty eyes. I have a pill box with four rows of sevens so I can prepare meds for the entire week. The morning row gets five pills in each box, the noon row gets four, etc. When I am finished there are 112 pills sorted out for the week. I am proud of my system…most of the time.

I finish placing the the last pills in place and reach over to get the coffee. Ah yes, life is always an adventure. You know I knocked over the coffee, right? As I did, I leaned onto the pill box and it flipped, ever so gracefully, end over end into the air spraying its newly received contents everywhere. Okay–you get the picture. Pills on the floor, pills on the table floating in coffee (too bad they were not donuts) and me staring, mouth hung open, in disbelief. However, God has blessed me with a sense of humor. I took a breath and began to laugh. Then I created some dialogue for the moment. I raised my hands, looked out across my random pill and coffee display, and said, “You are an idiot!” Then I laughed some more and began Round Two of the weekly pill dissemination. That time I succeeded.

I will finish this up by telling you I made it to eight o’clock Mass with the wife at my side. What better way to start a day, right? I have no idea how the rest of this day will play out. No matter what, it will be OK. The Season of Advent is upon us. In closing, I would like to wish you all a beautiful, blessed,  healthy and joy-filled Christmas.

“Celebrate the feast of Christmas every day, even every moment in the interior temple of your spirit, remaining like a baby in the bosom of the heavenly Father, where you will be reborn each moment in the Divine Word, Jesus Christ.”
St. Paul of the Cross   (Catholicquotes.org)

©LarryPeterson 2015

Larry is a Catholic/Christian author and blogger and posts weekly commentary. His work has appeared in such publications as Zenit from Rome, Aleteia, New Evangelists, Top Catholic Blogs, Big Pulpit, Catholic365.com and others. His first children's picture book, "Slippery Willie's Stupid, Ugly Shoes" was published in 2011. In 2012, his full-length novel, "The Priest and the Peaches" was released. His second novel, "The Demons of Abadon", was released in the spring of 2016. Larry’s latest novel, “Horizon Homeless” was released in ebook format in May of 2017 and the paperback followed on July 27, 2017. Larry belongs to the Catholic Writer’s Guild, The Catholic Writer’s Society, The Knights of Columbus, and the St. Vincent de Paul Society. He has been an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion for over twenty years bringing communion to the homebound and hospitalized. He lives in Pinellas Park, Florida and his kids and six grandchildren all live within three miles of each other. His first wife died of cancer in 2003. He remarried four years later and became the primary caregiver for his wife, Martha who came down with Non-Hodgins Lymphoma in 2011. The cancer was in remission when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease in October of 2014. Sadly and unexpectedly, Martha passed away on March 27, 2017. The writer says, "God has me where he needs me and I try my best to make Him proud. Larry’s blog site is http://www.slipperywillie.blogspot.com You can find more at www.larrypeterson-author.com

2 Replies to “Word Rambling towards Christmas”

  1. Larry, I did the same thing last week with my pills, so don’t feel that you are alone. We all have days like this and it only makes the days that run smoothly even more special. I love the way you bring your troubles into thoughts of Mary traveling pregnant on a donkey. It helps to keep things in perspective. It helps to keep the newborn babe in our hearts!

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