Thursday, December 15, 2011

It's About to be...

It's about to be Christmas, and no matter your background or belief system, Christmas is a time of joy, reflection, and hopefully peace.   We gather together with friends and family, we eat way too much and buy and receive way too many "things"  and we wonder what the year ahead will bring.

We send and receive Christmas Cards, some with the annual Christmas letters. I don't do Christmas letters.  I never have and I don't like them. I mostly don't care where everyone vacationed or who got what promotion or how the house sale went.   I hope that doesn't sound like Scrooge, I want it to sound honest.  What I care about I will already know about my friends and family.  I will know how they felt about getting that promotion because I would have been there to help celebrate.  I will have seen the vacation pictures while we sipped coffee or tea.   I will have helped with the moving after the big sale of the house or sent a housewarming gift that would arrived their first day in their new home.  I wont need to read it in a letter.

But this year, I actually considered sending a Christmas letter.  It wouldn't have been about my new garage, or the fact that my son is finally home from a 5 year stint in the US Navy.  It would been about my furry friends in and around Walnut.

I would tell them about Gibbs, who came to my porch after being left alone by his owner.  I would tell of his beauty and his gentleness.  I would whine about how the four cats don't get along, but we are working things out and he will stay.

And then I would tell them about Western Iowas Feral Cat Program.  How we have worked to spay or neuter, vaccinate and give medical care to 25 cats since August.   How we have set up six feeding stations to keep them well fed.  How they now have shelter and are living happy, healthy lives outside.

I'd tell them about Spider Mansion, which has become famous because of a feral cat who sunned himself in the window last winter...The soon to be demolished house will now live on.


I would tell them that each kitty has a name and there is a reason for that name.  I would tell them that while most have forgotten about these little creatures, we have not. 

I would tell them that through WIFCaP, we have met people all over the country that care as much as we do.  That we have friends out there that understand and support us.

I would tell them to do something for someone less fortunate.  I would tell them if we all did that, our world would change.

And I would say " Merry Christmas".
Luke 2:14
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.