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The Lilly Pond |
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December 10, 2001 - Issue 20 |
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Greetings and thanks for subscribing to TheLillyPond.com ezine! I'm Lillian Hinds and this ezine is dedicated to all mothers, daughters and the other important women in their families. Because we respect your privacy and value your subscription, we don't share your email address with anyone. If you'd like to be removed from our mailing list, please see instructions at the end of this ezine. ================================== Issue 20: In the Pond This Week ================================== 1. Note to My Readers: Upcoming Articles 2. Making a Christmas Memory 3. Share The Lilly Pond 4. Contact Me ================================== 1. Note to My Readers: Update ================================== Dear Lilly Ponder: This has been such an exciting week and I wanted to take a moment and share some of my joy and enthusiasm with you. My first shipment of books finally arrived from the printers last week. I haven't been able to sleep for several nights now! As I would wait for the UPS truck to arrive every day, I thought that this experience was somewhere between having a baby and singing my first solo. I can't remember being this anxious about anything in my life! And to finally hold this book in my own two hands - well it's hard to describe. As my brother, Bob, and I began to fill orders, we realized that we were quickly running out of books. Fortunately, another shipment is due to arrive on Monday (December 10). Many of you should have received your books by now. Depending on where you live, you should be getting your package from The Lilly Pond by the end of this week. If you don't, please send me an email and let me know. I am aware that many of you ordered several books and are planning these for Christmas gifts. So we are doing our best to get them to you as quickly as possible. In addition to finally seeing my work in book form, I am excited about the responses that the book has generated. When people see the title (Always Wear Clean Underwear) they seem to immediately understand what it means. And their next statement is usually, "Oh, I know! In case you are in a car wreck and have to go to the emergency room! My mother always told me that." Exactly! And ladies that see the cover for the first time love the beautiful artwork made from real flowers that was done by my friend, Suzanne Shelton. The responses to my stories have also been encouraging and have made me glad that I could be a blessing in someone's life. Most of us are always looking for something new to give as a Christmas gift and so this has been the perfect time of year to begin this endeavor. I have been amazed at the women who have ordered quantities to give as gifts to their secretary, children's teacher, co-workers, the boss's wife, their Sunday School teacher, and neighbors. Not to mention as gifts for mothers, daughters, sisters, sisters-in-law, daughters-in-law, grandmothers and every other way we are related. One churchgoer ordered a book for everyone in her Sunday School class! Needless to say, I want everyone to have a book that wants one. If you have not ordered your copy yet, remember that we are offering free shipping if you order before December 18th. Also remember that you get a 10% discount when you order more than 5 books. Ok, end of commercial. But this has been so much fun and I just wanted to thank you for being part of it all. I wanted to let you know about the upcoming schedule of topics that we will be publishing in the ezine. We are taking a short break from our teen articles and will have some thoughts on Christmas, beginning with this edition. One of the topics that I will address is dealing with loss during the holiday season. After the New Year, we will pick back up and complete our teen series entitled, Who's That Stranger Living in My Little Girl's Room? When that series is complete, I want to address an extremely difficult subject - The Bad Mother. I have received many letters from readers worried that they are the only one out there with a mother who could only be described as horrible. Not true. I work with the children of Bad Mothers and this is a subject close to my heart. In fact, this is what got me started on this web site in the first place. Then in February or March, we will deal with the most painful subject I think a woman can ever contemplate - loosing a child. I have had many more letters lately from readers who have lost children. Their agony is unparalleled. I am calling in anyone I know who will have something to say to us on this hard topic and will publish those letters and articles in the spring. I want to thank so many of you who have responded to the letter from "Linda" that was in the Issue 18 of the ezine. I am forwarding those to her and know that you will be a blessing to her as you reach out. And now I want to do something I have not ever done before. I received a letter from a young woman named Marcee in Texas. She was driving her two children to school in latter August of this year and had a horrible car wreck. She and her little boy were hurt terribly, and her little girl, age 4, died from her injuries. Marcee is devastated. She is still struggling to heal from her physical injuries (she still can't walk) and sees no hope to heal from the loss of her daughter. First of all, I want you to pray for Marcee. I have over 1,600 subscribers to this ezine and I believe in the power of prayer. And Marcee is at a place in her life where only God's peace can reach her. Secondly, if you have something to offer her in the spirit of love and understanding, please send it to me at lil@thelillypond.com I will see that Marcee receives it. Remember that you can respond to each other on the bulletin board located on my web site under the heading of Pond Talk. I would be thrilled for you to talk to each other there. I did not mean for this note to be so long. But you all know how I am! I'm looking forward to hearing from more of you and knowing what you are interested in. In my prayers, I thank God for you as a group and ask His blessings on your lives. Now, on to our Christmas article. With all my heart, Lillian ================================== 2. Making a Christmas Memory ================================== The weekend after Thanksgiving is when our family typically puts up our Christmas decorations. My husband works in retail so after this weekend, we know that sightings of him will be scarce and he probably won't be available to string lights or go back up in the attic to look for just one more box. Year after year, we get out decorations that are relatively new and some that I brought home after my mother died. My children have always enjoyed this activity so much that without my realizing it, this has become a family ritual. As each ornament is carefully taken from its tissue wrapping one of the girls will exclaim over its origins. "This is the ornament that I made in kindergarten!" "Here is the star from the church cantata when I was in the 3rd grade." "Aunt Jenni made this while Maw Maw was in the hospital." "Here are the ornaments Mrs. Cravens made us when we were in the Sunbeam Choir." I found my "Baby's First Christmas" ornament. Here is the one Pam gave you the first year you and Daddy were married. Here is the Indian decoration I made in elementary school. And so on it goes. As each ornament is gently unwrapped, we all take a moment to recall where it came from and why it is special to our family. Sometimes the ornament is important because someone dear gave it to us. We have an ornament from neighbors that looks like our dog. Another with the girls' pictures in them taken at Ole and Carolyn's pool when the girls were very young. There are some from an elderly couple that lived across the street. They would frequently eat a McDonald's Happy Meal and save the Christmas ornament for my children. Some ornaments are special because the girls made them at church or at school during their early years. The Texas heat in our attic is especially hard on school paste, and sometimes I wonder if some of the earlier models will make it through another season. But just let me try to throw one away and the cries of outrage from my children quickly have me looking for a spot on the back of the tree for this little gem. It seems the older and more primitive the decoration, the bigger treasure it represents to them. Some ornaments are special because they mark special events; First Christmas Together; Baby's First Christmas, Driver's License, Mom Graduates from College, Grandbaby's First Christmas. We have a camera collection since our dad is a photographer, an angel collection for mom and several with the girls' names on them. A few years ago as we unpacked our Christmas collection I realized that my children were nearly grown. That gave me such a sinking feeling. There was so much that I still wanted to do while my kids were young. My husband and I had truly struggled financially for so many years, and it seemed that Christmas time just made the struggle that much harder. Most years, we exchanged a card on the tree or a kiss under the mistletoe. There was no money for gifts for each other and trying to make Christmas for the girls was a challenge that was usually overwhelming to me. But the girls weren't little anymore and all the things I wanted to do "some day" would never get done. My heart ached and I wondered if I was destined to always wish for what "might have been." Yet as I looked around, I realized that my children were extremely happy with all of our holiday traditions and decorations. This was amazing to me and a revelation. As I watched them lovingly go through each trinket, I became aware that their memories of Christmas were joyous and happy. It is easy to say that money is not what it takes to make Christmas special, or that children aren't interested in the price tag. But it is more difficult to let that learning sink down into your heart where you know it to be true. For the first time in many years, I was able to relax and enjoy Christmas as much as my children did. Not because of the lavish gifts and decorations, but because we had been able to make memories together, then to take those special moments out of the tissue one by one, dust them off and share them again! With all my heart, Lillian ================================== 3. Share The Lilly Pond ================================== If you know someone who would enjoy having The Lilly Pond ezine, please feel free to forward this issue to them. If you received this ezine from a friend and you'd like to subscribe, you can go to http://www.TheLillyPond.com and subscribe for free or just click here to send an email to us with "SUBSCRIBE" in the Subject line. Thanks. ================================== 4. Contact Me ================================== Your comments are welcome. Click here to email me. Thanks for reading! With all my heart, Lillian ================================== |
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