Children Talking to Children In the Dark

Well, now that Thanksgiving dinner has been made and consumed (I'm soooo looking forward to the lentil soup made from the lamb bone, and having leftover sweet potatoes at lunch tomorrow) it's time to wish all of you living here in the States a happy Thanksgiving, and some of you out there a happy Hanukkah. I hope that your day was rich with blessings.

As always, I am thankful to live here in Vermont where other people vacation. I am thankful for the families that raised me, and the family that raised my husband. Mine were intelligent, gentle, kind, and perceptive with a love of music, books, languages, literature, and travel. His are a passionate and welcoming group with a wide range of interests, a zest for games of all sorts, and a wonderful sense of inquiry and a persistent desire to reach a consensus on a win-win arrangement for every problem. I am thankful to have been granted a life where just when I'm trying to figure out how to turn my lemons into lemonade, somehow I find they've become lemon meringue pie while I wasn't paying attention. I seem to be lucky that way. This afternoon I was enormously thankful for the warmth of the woodstove after a very bracingly chilly five miles of exercise!

This year I have been especially glad for all the old friends I have rediscovered through social media, the acquaintances that I've made connections with that we never would have made back when we were young, and trapped behind the defensive walls of our teenage and young adult insecurities, and for the new people who have set up home in my heart. You bring your interests, your passions, and your experiences into my day, and I am much the richer for it. And finally, here or there, some of you have said from time to time that some words or ideas that I have shared have brightened your day or eased a trouble for a time. That means a great deal to me, because with the karma I've had in my life so far, I'd better be building some great store of karma for the future, so I don't spend it all in one place! Seriously, one and all, I invite you all to share metaphorically in my bounty, and to receive my thanks. You are part of what makes it such a glorious journey.

Advent Calendar Day 12 for the advent calendar on sj_everyday

Title: Rejoice And Be Merry, Set Sorrows Aside

Author: Thothmes

Season: Three. I’m declaring that Christmas happened after Rules of Engagement and before Forever in a Day, because otherwise the team would be rallying around Daniel, not going their separate ways.

Spoilers: The Movie, Emancipation, Seth, Crystal Skull, Cold Lazarus. Small passing things.

Warnings: Like many, Jack suffers from depression, which can be harder to bear in festive seasons. It puts you all a-jangle and out of tune with the world.

Disclaimer:The toys mentioned are not actually for sale, or at least I pray they aren’t. Stop trying to look up the price of a Slime Castle on Amazon! The names given to the children are chosen by taking list of the most popular baby names for their putative birth years, going to number 6 on the list and using that, no taste or discernment required. I own no canon characters, and I’m just borrowing them, and they won’t be harmed. It profiteth me not. The King James Bible, Dickens, and The Night Before Christmas are out of copyright as is the carol in the title, and really, the quotations from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Stargate (the Movie) , and Emancipation are tributes. Be flattered. Nothing to litigate here. Move along. These were not the copyright violations you were looking for.

Rejoice And Be Merry, Set Sorrows Aside

( Story here )


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I have finally finished wrapping and stuffing stockings, and fixing my lj from its disastrous unasked for, unheralded, sudden change from a three column style to a two column style, and now I have a moment to stop, gather my thoughts and speak to you all.

not_a_zatarc and rgcraeg, I wish you both a belated happy birthday. I hope that everything came in actual birthday wrapping, and not slightly anticipatory Christmas wrapping, and that you each had a whale of a day.

And to all and sundry I wish a very lovely holiday, whichever one you happen to celebrate. The solstice is past, and for those of us up here in the northern climes, the long slow climb back into the light has begun, and for those of you in the summer hemisphere, the days will draw down. This process is a source of continual fascination to my Whirlwind, who asks frequently about what people would be doing on the other side of the world, and what time of year it is for people in the Southern Hemisphere. So I'm reminded fairly regularly that for some of you the Christmas season is cheek-by-jowl with your Midsummer's Eve.

We're culturally Christian here, which means there will be stockings and presents (my Muslim stepfather learned to play along years ago) and the singing of Christmas carols. And because in my family Christmas is a matriarchal holiday, we are all down here at my mothers, and there are siblings and nieces and nephew to visit with and enjoy.

The Whirlwind is still a True Believer, but is worried because due to the damage in the wake of tropical storm Irene, Santa was not at his local venue this year, and she wasn't able to sit in the great man's lap and tell him personally of all her nine year old desires and hopes. She's a little concerned that he won't get her anything as a result. After the holiday is safely done for the year, and the chances of her contaminating her cousins with apostasy is over, I'm going to have to have a little word with her. Nine is old enough. I've only put off having this chat because I didn't want her disillusioning any of her True Believer classmates, but this is getting silly.

In the meantime I told her about the year I was six and living in Greece, and very concerned because a)our 5th floor apartment had no fireplace, and b)I wasn't at all sure that he had my forwarding address. He managed to find me anyway.

So whether you celebrate Christmas, the Solstice, Hanukkah, Kwanza, or any of a host of other festivals, whether you are coming into winter or summer, as this year draws to an end, I hope you are all with the people you love, that you have joy and hope, that the walls that surround you ring with laughter and delight, and that the year to come will be better still. You have all brightened my life and I carry the pieces of you that you have shared with me through every day. I think of you all more often than you would think, and wish only the best for each and every one of you.

And so to bed!