Dear V-8 Buick spiritually-minded celebrants of Christmas, Since 2011, I have been making photo Christmas cards featuring my trusty wagon. I used to post them on V-8 Buick, but they weren't particularly well-received so I stopped. However, recently there was a post on this thread inquiring as to what happened to me: http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?th...traction-mobile-mansions.357837/#post-3140575 As quoted here, it did appear to require a response. Well in full honestly, no I cannot describe my situation as fine. For some years now, we have had two members of the family with serious disabilities. As their health has declined, my responsibilities have increased. Since COVID-19 hit, we have had little choice to remain in perpetual lock-down. If the virus ever reached us, I don't know if any of us could have survived. COVID has made the cooking, cleaning, and most of all shopping, that much more difficult. Mix in the California drought, wild fires, and Public Safety Power Shutoffs, and it has been a horrific year. Somehow, all this needed to get reflected in Biquette's Christmas card for this year. This is what I finally came up with: Many thanks to yachtsmanbill for allowing me to use his photo of the wrecked 1964 Sportswagon in my card. Circumstances compel me to ask all of us to reconsider the true meaning of the season. That is why this is posted in Help From Above. Yes, the COVID-19 Grinch has stolen much of what we would normally consider to be Christmas. Yet, this is hardly the first time that Christmas has been stripped of its luxuries. My parents endured a few Christmas seasons in German occupied France as children. The austerities of today hardly compare to that. In his 1957 story, Theodore Geisel insisted we could go without these luxuries and still find the true meaning of Christmas - are we still up to the task? All around me, I can see people breaking the prohibitions against fraternizing. COVID is spreading rapidly in California, this will only make things worse. If in their stubbornness to celebrate, people are endangering us all - isn't it obvious that we have lost sight of the true spirit of Christmas? There was a time when Christmas wasn't our own creation, but the commemoration of our encounter with the divine. In the same way, morality once wasn't our dominion, but conferred to us. In our restlessness, we insisted on reinventing morality - in order to extend our freedom. Instead of a greater harmony, that freedom has caused us increasingly to bicker - as painfully illustrated by the past election. Can we honestly claim that our reinvention of morality is an improvement over the divine one? For many Christians, Christmas is every bit as much a looking forward to the second coming as the commemoration of the first. All Christians should understand that there is some unfinished business that must be settled. Until it is, human existence will remain broken and unhappy. Alas, many Christians have come to fear the final judgement, and because of it, would rather put off the second coming than embrace it. Is this the year that we finally realize that divine judgement is surely much better than the cruel ways in which we judge one another? May we all find the courage to embrace the Light of the world which will do - what we cannot possibly ever do for ourselves. Edouard
Long time no see, Edouard Yes, last week I replied to your last post from May 2020 Thank you for the nice card, a merry Christmas to you and your family!
I share your situation with a disabled family member and understand your predicament and feelings. Your appeal to others for Christmas renewal is well stated . Lets hope the new year will bring back compassion ,understanding and feeling for others. Good health and best wishes to you and your family. PS. your a good caretaker of the wagon judging from your Christmas card; keep the wheels pointed downward and ignore the Grinch in your rear view mirror!
Thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts. We kept things simple and austere this year. Still, better an honest Christmas than trying to paint a smile on your face. This morning there was a posting on Nextdoor from a hospital staffer expressing the fear that we shall see yet another surge in COVID-19. So by all means, be extra cautious in the next few days and weeks. We certainly will. Edouard
