Bless us all who gather here,
The loving family we hold dear.
No place on earth
Compares with home
And every path will lead us back
From where we roam.
Bless us all, that as we live,
We always comfort and forgive.
There is so much
For us to share
With those in need
We see around us everywhere... (cont)
Let us learn to love each other.
Lead us to the Light.
Let hear the voice of Reason
Singing in the night.
Let us run from anger.
Catch us when we fall.
Teach us in our dreams,
And please, Lord, please,
Bless us one and all.
Bless us all with precious years
With silly games and grateful tears.
We turn to You,
And we stand tall,
And in our hearts & minds
We ask You, bless us all.
- A Muppet Christmas Carol, http://is.gd/...
The lyrics of this song have had an honored place in our kitchen for more than 20 years now. I love the movie, which has the humor to keep children interested plus all the drama of the original Charles Dickens story. Every year at Thanksgiving & Christmas, we watch it together.
This year is special. All our family is together. My daughter is still in high school. My 21-yo-son is in community college studying computer technology. My 24yo son who just graduated from the School of the Art Institute Chicago living here, too, working on a show for our local art center.
Topping it all off, my 31 year old son, a firefighter medic, is studying to be a paramedic in South Dakota, & is visiting on the weekends & it is such fun. Soon, his new wife, who is Polish, will join him from Montana & she will come, too.
We have used this 'imposed' recession to strengthen our family & really get to know each other so much better than in the hectic days of my kids' childhoods and teen years. We talk about everything from politics to philosophy, history, the environment, religions (all sorts) & the arts.
My Millennial age kids are not discouraged. They are so much like we were in the '70's: open-minded & optimistic. They see the world needs to change & they have no doubt they can change it. The GOP's admonishment of kids still living at home falls flat with me. I have never been so happy in my life. I wonder what other women feel. I mean, the nuclear family is soooo 20th Century, so post-WWII. My artist son agrees & imagines green, self-sustaining, community-based cityscapes for the future, tied to the world by the "internets."
I am not gloomy about the future. I am hopeful for it. Because my kids leave me no option but to see it through their eyes – a lesson I too, as a young mother, learned from Mr. Rogers & Sesame Street.
"God bless us, one and all."
PS. You can follow me on Twitter as @Auriandra