oh, holy night

the reason for the season

when my siblings and i were children growing up back in the old country, we always looked forward with excitement to celebrating Christmas. it means something special on the table -- one whole egg for each of us, when normally we'd have a simple omelette shared with everyone; a new dress even if it was a hand me down from older cousins; a new pair of shoes, which we could not use everyday as cheap as they were, they'd disintegrate in the rain; going to church and afterwards visiting the relatives. my father's youngest sister (my aunt) would have her large dining able filled with food, food that my parents could not afford, so i would fill myself up with ham, fried chicken, cakes and other sweets. then my aunt would each hand us a peso or two. my siblings would save their money, but i would buy an apple as if the food i ate weren't enough. anything we received, we deemed it special.

today, a card arrived at my door, from a dear friend in alabama. i had an idea for a post for tonight but when i opened the card, the idea took a more solid shape. shots of my little Christmas tree, a bokeh shot from a few days ago and part of the card i received today make up this composite greeting card for you tonight.

may your Christmas be filled with joy and love and lots of blessings.

four years ago, i wrote a spoof of charles dickens' "a Christmas carol" -- stressed from all those prepping for the big day? have a laugh here:
https://365project.org/summerfield/365-again/2014-12-22

i scoured youtube for a nice rendition of "oh holy night" and martina mcbride was the only rendition that appealed to me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOd4nTz0hhY

[Sebastian Gritt]

Thank you very much Vikki. May you and Bill have a fantastic Christmas as well. Enjoy. Seb.

[Diana]

A stunning image and wonderful story. Thanks for all the good wishes Vikki, may you be blessed with the same.

[Sheralee S]

Beautiful story and image Vikki. Hope you have a wonderful day.

[JackieR]

Hope you get some rest and recuperation, a beautiful composite that looks real!!

[Henri Russell]

Beautiful. I hope your Christmas Day is very special.

[Harry J Benson]

Merry Christmas. Being one of 10 siblings, Christmas was always a special time even when the gifts were not especially new, they were new to us and the love - which was all we really need - was there.

[Sally Ings]

Merry Christmas Vikki. Beautiful image

[Nova]

Merry Christmas to you as well Ms.V.

[Hazel]

I did enjoy reading about your childhood Christmases and I send you all good wishes for today and for 2019.

[Kathy]

A lovely spiritual Christmas image. Hope your day has been filled with joy and the love of Christ, as he is born today. Hallelujah! Merry Christmas.

[katy]

I am so honored to be included in part of your project today especially! God bless you always. I haven’t the time to read your story or listen to the music right now but I am going to come back to it I promise. In the meantime know how special you are! ❤️

[Berni Crumb]

Thank you for sharing your story with this lovely composite. A Happy Christmas to you and your family, and a prosperous New Year to come!

[katy]

She sang it beautifully! Thanks for the link♥

[jenny tucker]

hi and Merry Christmas old friend. Thank you for remembering me and visiting my long-abandoned page. Luv ya! I am more active on Instagram now ...handle is jtuckersticksandstones. Hope to see you there...and hope you are well!!!! - - jenny

[Ann H. LeFevre]

Merry Christmas Vikki! You did a lovely job "repurposing" that special card. The story was definitely you and the song very pretty!

[Marnie]

Loved reading your story, so much to read into that tale. Hope you had a great Christmas.

[Jerome]

Thank you, Vicki, for your impressive story from your life. It touches me a lot. People with your special wealth of experience see the world differently. I think they can separate the important from empty and meaningless. The world needs such people, perhaps more urgently than ever before.