Image from the Internet
Christmas is a Season, not a Day.
It is a State of Mind.
It is a Grand Arc of Unbridled JOY!
It is a Time for Unabashed Kindness and BoldFace Love!
It is too early to be talking about Christmas, of course!
The Street Decorations went up this week in my neighborhood,
And there are Ugly Sweater Cookie Cutter Sets available at the SuperMarket.
This is all about Commercial Retail Playing Us to get some coins from our purse.
Not for me.
However, the Season to focus on Spiritual Growth and JOY has already Begun!
Street Decorations going up in the Neighborhood Yesterday
I LOVE how it is arranged, and it doesn’t seem the Least Bit Random:
After a Season of Summer FUN,
We Celebrate Labor Day — Rejoice in our Work!
We get back to work in a serious way for the New Semester,
The New Season…
And, as the Days grow shorter, there is Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, for which this year I got to be in India!
And then we stop and Play — Dressing Up for Halloween!
But I must admit — these girls Win! Image from the Internet
Our StarBucks Barista JEFF is certainly a contender for Best Costume this Year
All Saints Day on November 1st, which is the impetus for how we Celebrate Halloween today — reminds us to commune with all the Heavenly Bodies,
And my Favorite of the three, All Soul’s Day on November 2nd, Celebrates all the regular schmoes like you and me who get to go to Heaven Too!
Because we all go to Heaven!
Even the People we don’t like
Except we like them then.
Something like that — Sister Cajetan explained it better when I was in Second Grade!
Next comes Election Day, Giving us a Voice!
And this week’s results show us Lifting our Voices and Making a Joyful Noise!
All of this momentum leads us into our current Season of Giving Thanks!
Three Generations, ThanksGiving 2017, Muskoka, Canada
Canadian Thanksgiving 2017
Being a Dual Citizen, I had the Joy of Celebrating Canadian ThanksGiving back in October!
And now we prepare for American ThanksGiving!
On November 11th, we pause to honor our Veterans (Veterans Day in the US and Remembrance Day in Canada) and Give Thanks to the Soldiers who served our Country and protected our Freedom!
And from there we move into Hannukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights,
beginning the evening of Tuesday, December 12th and ending the evening of Wednesday December 20th.
This blends Beautifully into Solstice, or Yule,
on December 21st,
the Shortest Daylight and Longest Night of the Year, launching a trajectory of the Days getting continually Brighter,
Celebrating Light and the ReBirth of the Sun!
Soon we are at Christmas Eve
on Sunday December 24th,
Leading into Christmas Day
on Monday December 25th,
And Kwanzaa, honoring Core Principles of African Heritage,
beginning Tuesday December 26th
And ending on Monday January 1st, 2018.
January 1st, of course, begins a New Year!
And it will still be only the 7th Day of Christmas!
The Twelve Days of Christmas take us to January 6th — Little Christmas or Three Kings Day!
The following week, we Celebrate Progressive Change and Everything that is Good about Living in a Free Country!!
Image from the Internet
Democrat RALPH NORTHAM will be sworn in as Governor of Virginia, and within the next few years have an opportunity to undo the once-every-ten-years redistricting which last time allowed Republican Governor BOB MCDONNELL to gerrymander Virginia into a Very-Favorable-to-Republican-Elections State.
Image from the Internet
No fewer than fourteen new Virginia State Legislators will assume Office — among them, HALA ALAYA and ELIZABETH GUZMÁN, Virginia’s first two Latina-Americans, and KATHY TRAN, Virginia’s first Asian-American, elected to the House of Delegates.
Image from the Internet
DANICA ROEM, Virginia’s first Transgender Legislator begins her term replacing Republican ROBERT MARSHALL, the 13-year incumbent who authored the Anti-Transgender Bathroom Bill, and described himself as Virginia’s “Chief Homophobe.”
Bye, Chief Homophobe!
When asked to comment on her victory over MARSHALL, ROEM stated,
“I don’t attack my constituents. Bob is my constituent now.”
ASHLEY BENNETT, Image from the Internet
In Atlantic County, NJ, ASHLEY BENNETT will begin her term as FreeHolder, replacing JOHN CARMAN who mocked the Women’s March last January posting a meme to his FaceBook page asking, “Will the Women’s Protest be over in time for them to cook dinner?” 
She showed up with other Women Constituents at a a public meeting CARMAN held a few days afterward and called him out on “mocking and belittling people who are expressing their concerns about their community and the nation,” and then she decided to run against him.
And she Won!
In Maine, 70,000 people will gain Health Care Coverage based on the People Voting earlier this week on a State Referendum to expand Medicare.
PHIL MURPHY, Governor-Elect and SHEILA OLIVER, Lieutenant Governor-Elect. Image from the Internet
Democrat PHIL MURPHY will be sworn in as Governor of New Jersey, replacing CHRIS CHRISTIE who, in addition to his BridgeGate Scandal, famously closed the beaches of New Jersey to the public this last 4th of July Weekend, due to a budget shutdown, and then went there with his family to enjoy what he perceived as his personal privilege.
Fortunately, the internet will enable us to remember this Greedy Corrupt Politician for what he is for all eternity:
In New York, BILL DIBLASIO will be sworn in for his second term.
BILL DI BLASIO back when we were at NYU at the same time. Image from the Internet
He is the first Mayor of New York under whom my rent actually went down!
In Philadelphia, progressive Democrat LARRY KRASNER shall begin his term as District Attorney, adding a progressive voice against US Attorney General JEFF SESSIONS’ narrow-minded conservative agenda.
LARRY KRASNER, Image from the Internet
We shall see the first tRUMP-Era Election results taking Office:
In addition to DANICA ROEM in Virginia, Transgender Candidates also won races in Minnesota, California, and Pennsylvania. Cities in Minnesota and Montana will have their first African-American Mayors sworn in — in addition to Charlotte, North Carolina’s first Black Female Mayor, VI LYLES!
And VI is not the only one! MARY PARHAM-COPELAN will be sworn in as Milledgeville, Georgia’s first Black Female Mayor.
MARY PARHAM-COPELAN, Image from the Internet
Seattle will have it’s first openly Lesbian Mayor, JENNY DURKAN.
And New Jersey will have it’s first Sikh Mayor: RAVINDER BHALLA, who in response to racist propaganda spread about him during the election campaign tweeted, “We won’t let hate win.”
RAVINDER BHALLA, Image from the Internet
For more results from Tuesday’s Elections, check out these articles:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/8/16622884/women-minorities-lgbtq-candidates-made-history
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/08/meet-the-15-people-who-made-history-in-the-2017-election.html
And So here we are in the midst of So Many Celebrations heading toward Positive Change!
Making AMERICA Great Again!
How Good it Feels!
We the People!
We the People!
We the People!
All Races, Creeds, Colors, and Genders!
ALL
All Coming Together
Lifting our Voices
And Voting our Future!
We are AMERICA!
BRIAN LEHRER of NPR commented after this week’s election that Donald tRUMP may have done more for Women in Politics than any other President in American History.
So Much to Celebrate
Especially Now
In the Midst of So Many Holidays, Celebrations, and JOYful Occasions…
It is forty-five days until Christmas Day!
With no push toward Commercial Anything of Any Kind,
Let us remember that if we take a little time now,
To tend to our Creative Ideas and Nourish our Christmas Joys,
Our efforts shall yield a much Grander Christmas.
Do not worry about money.
That is not what’s required.
As someone once told me: “Don’t despair if you are short of cash. Be Creative!
Looking Back, you will find that the Christmases when you had the least money are the ones that you cherish most!”
So, in this Season of Thanks,
Perhaps we can begin to think about our Christmas List of what you wish to Give,
Holiday Plans,
Travel Arrangements,
Gift Ideas (even homemade ones that would take some time — there’s time!),
Entertaining you might enjoy Doing, and perhaps folks with whom you might like to get back in touch,
Ways to Help Others,
Places and Ways to Volunteer that could aid the less fortunate,
Holiday Projects we always want to do but never have time for at the last minute…
Creative and Craft Projects,
Decorating Ideas…
Season of Joy, All Lit Up!
Think of it JOYFULLY
In this Season of So Much for which to be Grateful!
Let Your Creativity unfold,
And Begin Taking Action on the Ways we can make the World a Better Place this Christmas…
There is So Much Good Going On!
There is So Much for which to be Grateful!
So Much HOPE!
So Much Positive Action…
There is So Much to Celebrate!
Image from the Internet
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Live The Questions Now 