Once upon a December

...and I leave it to December to teach me that new beginnings don't really require new calendars. Just new thoughts that these Winter months will grow big and tall enough to let the sadness know it has no place in the days ahead.

The month of December is a hard one for me. One year ago my sister left this place and on Christmas Day my mother left. My daughter left yesterday to begin her new life away from here, but this month also brings great joy. We scattered our thoughts like snowflakes into December, now lost until the snow melts.

I have lots to be thankful for because it has also been one more year that I was able to survive. As you may recall last year I was in the hospital in real life and let's see almost was deleted. I am so thankful to be here. Second Life helps me in many ways to make the Retreat look festive, to host different events, and hopefully to bring some laughter and joy to people.

We can't always look at all the dreary events that happen around us, because there are so many more cheerful things that happen unnoticed (or we take for granted). December should be the month when we reflect on the year's events. Oh, by the way, that story about Germans and the pickle in the tree is made up. In Germany, we NEVER put a pickle in the tree.

However you celebrate in this month remember to make that phone call or send a card to those who are lonely and have nobody to share the joy of the holidays with. Trust me there are many out there in Second Life and in Real Life. Some people do not have Second Life, we are the lucky ones.

Come and visit the Retreat, pose with the holiday car and take pictures, skate on the ice skating rink, and get some free gifts in The Basement Club from the Advent Calendar.