Leesburg Chapter
December 2009
An Invitation:
Please join Beverly and Bernie Elero at their home on
December 13th at 6:30pm for the world wide candle
lighting.
On December 20th, 2pm-4pm bereaved mothers are invited to a tea at the Elero’s home. Please call for more details on any of the above events: 540-882-9707.
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Again at Christmas did we weave
The holly round the Christmas hearth;
The silent snow possess’d the earth,
And calmly fell our Christmas-eve.
The yule-log sparkled keen with frost,
No wing of wind the region swept,
But over all things brooding slept
The quiet sense of something lost.
-Alfred Tennyson
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Holidays are among the hardest times for those who have lost a loved one. They are so fraught with family ritual, the layered memories of years.
Sometimes we feel free to talk about it—indeed, there’s no way not to talk about it if the grief is fresh.
But after some time has passed, when the grief is in the
background but not really yet assimilated into our lives, it may be even harder—the dull ache of absence, and everyone trying to be cheerful.
One year—the first year we tried to go back to our usual
Christmas patterns—the unspoken gloom hovered behind our
attempts at joy and repartee. Suddenly, almost as though by
unspoken direction, we gathered in a circle, our arms around one another, and acknowledged our grief. Then we could get on with Christmas.
In this season I will find hope, and grief as well.
An excerpt from: Healing After Loss: Daily Meditations for
Working Through Grief
By Martha Whitmore Hickman
Christmas Memories
There is a memory in my heart.
When Christmas comes around;
Children’s laughter filled the air,
And blessed it with joyous sound
.
A little bit of magic,
Like sparkle on the snow;
Time stood still, now time is gone,
Where did the laughter go?
Where did the piping carols go,
The ones my child used to sing?
They’re tucked so deeply in my heart,
In memories Christmas brings.
Where did the little stockings go,
That hung on the mantle with care?
Tucked away in my box of dreams,
Of the child no longer there.
For Christmas brings a special ache,
Deep within my soul;
For the child I loved and now is gone,
The half that made me whole.
Gone are the dreams of our future,
Left is a distant past;
Yet childish laughter rings in my heart,
And memories that will last.
Celebrate Christmas in Heaven, my child;
Let your laughter fill the air;
Until the day I am by your side,
My love will be with you there.
-Allison Chambers Coxsey, 2002
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FIRST HOLIDAY
We lit a candle today,
To fill the empty place
Where you should be
But aren’t…
I stood with my hands cupping the flame…
And felt the heat…
the energy…
Empty space between fire and flesh
Nothing visible
Nothing to see…
And yet I knew it was there-
The energy touched my skin.
And so it was with you today.
Nothing visible-nothing to see.
And yet I knew you were here.
Your energy touched my heart.
-Sandy Goodman, 2006
Editor: Bev Elero
bkelero@gmail.com
540.882.9707
~Leesburg TCF Chapter
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The Compassionate Friends Leesburg Chapter |
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