Prayer for Brothers and Sisters (From Sister Patsy)

Heavenly Father, You've given me so many gifts. Perhaps the dearest of all is my precious family. I thank you now especially for my brothers and sisters. Be with them Father. Surround them with Your presence. 

Open their hearts to a knowledge of Your constant care. Help me to show how very much I appreciate them, how grateful I am to live at this particular time in history, and to be a part of this particular generation. 

You fashioned me even before You created the world. If there have been rifts between us, grant us the wisdom to mend them. Open us all to your healing presence: The peace that comes with forgiveness and abandonment to Your will. 

If I have ever taken my family for granted, forgotten to tell them how much they mean to me, or refused to respect and trust them, forgive me. I know that you want what is best for us. Remind us that we reflect Your love in our love for one another. Remind me too that all your children are my spiritual brothers and sisters. 

Moey and me.

Front: Brian P.,Moey, Joanne, Me

Back; Neil, Michael P., Joey, Dad, Christine P

Me, Peggy, and Neil.

Guard me from a judgmental heart. From prejudice and jealousy. Let me cherish each person I meet as a part of Your eternal family. I place us all in Your hands recognizing that You watch us with a Father's tender regard: ever alert, ever merciful. Keep us close to one another in this life and be with us as we journey to our final home together. Amen.

Hand Me Downs (Childhood Memories)

In a large family one gets used to hand me down clothing from older brothers and sisters but one time my sister Peggy received some clothing (neatly packed) from a 'rich' girl. I thought she was the luckiest person and couldn't wait to get my mitts on the loot!

Of course everything in the box fit Peggy perfectly and looked nice on her so I had to wait my turn. Some of the clothes were only worn by Peggy (because only she could wear them well) but some items were passed down to me and I enjoyed them.

Next in line however was Moey who had relished in the idea of inheriting these beauties for some time. Unfortunately as happens styles had changed. Moey wouldn't let anything like that stop her.

My brother (Neil) would regularly hide her 'new' shoes and one classmate would make rather snide remarks about Moey's (now yellowed) white go go boots but she was determined to take her place in the now somewhat dulled limelight.

Moey is now a grade school teacher and one day one of her student's could no longer contain himself. "Mrs. Nagel, you are going to have to stop wearing your grandmother's dresses!"

So in this world of constant changes it's comforting to know that Moey's attire remains consistently out of fashion. JK!!

Christmas: Children, It's not about the presents.(Right!)

As a child when I had a hard time going to sleep my older sisters would tell me think of something good. That something was most likely to be Christmas, our once a year family reunion, or Crystal Beach (more about the latter two later). No matter how many times I was reminded that Christmas was about giving and about the birth of Jesus it's hard for a child to think of anything more wonderful than the surprises of Christmas morning.

We rehersed our performance throughout the year. Who was going to assure that we were up on time? We certainly couldn't depend on our parents or the older siblings for this important task. We practiced sliding down the bannister very quietly. An efficient technique was of utmost importance. If my parents heard us on the stairs and yelled that it was too early, 'Go back to bed!' we measured the displeasure in their voice. Once we had made it down the stairs and into the front room we were home free. There was no stopping us now and my parents reluctantly relented that another Christmas morning had officially begun.

It wasn't so much about how much we received but the fact that we were sufficiently surprised that mattered most. When writing our 'dear santa' letters we always were reminded by older siblings to add that request in case the items we had requested weren't available. We were also given the evil eye if our requests were deemed excessive and reminded about the evils of greediness by our 'been there,done that' older sibs.

And so, although I think it is important to remind our children of the true meaning of Christmas I don't fault them nor do I think their excitement and concern with things other than spiritual are harmful or should be discouraged. It is with maturity, age, and intention that we gain a deeper perspective of what the holiday represents and are capable of appreciating this understanding as well as accepting where our children and others are in their spiritual journey.