Finishing 2020

If I keep to my regular schedule, the next blog post I write will be on the day after Christmas. Here is the list of possible topics if I want to write about Christmas today:

• What if this is my last Christmas?
• What if this is hubby’s last Christmas?
• What does Christmas mean to me?
• What is my favorite Christmas memory?
• What is an appropriate Christmas message at the end of a pandemic year?
• How is Christmas different being a caregiver?

I could write a page about each topic, but since there are other things I want to say today, here is my one-sentence answer to each:

• What if this is my last Christmas? That would mean next Christmas I would be in Heaven! Yay!
• What if this is hubby’s last Christmas? He would be in Heaven – Yay for him, sadness for me.
• What does Christmas mean to me?   God loved me enough to send His son – Amazing Love!
• What is my favorite Christmas memory? I recited most of Luke 2 on television at Christmas with my 4th grade class – scary, but inspiring!
• What is an appropriate Christmas message at the end of a pandemic year? God is in control – don’t lose hope!
• How is Christmas different being a caregiver? I will enjoy Christmas and do everything to help my loved one enjoy it also, even if he doesn’t show how much he enjoys it, and it is a lot of work!

When I realized that this is my last post for 2020 since next Saturday will be January 1^st, 2021, I thought of so many things to say about 2020. Here are a few.

As to the past, let’s finish this year knowing we did our best. Were we perfect caregivers? No! But we did our best. That’s all we can ask of ourselves.

As to the future, let’s look forward with hope, not with fear. We don’t know what tomorrow looks like, but as God was with us in the past, so He will be in the future.

As to putting off things that need to be done, let’s stop doing that. This week I put in motion two things I have been putting off. One is a medical procedure, and the other is a large purchase. Both are necessary, but I was waiting to do each of them. No more. Let’s do what needs to be done.

If you’ve been reading my blogs for more than a year, you know that each year I choose a topic on which to focus during the next calendar year. It’s kind of like a New Year’s resolution, but it’s just one word of focus for the following year. Providentially the word for this year was “Thankfulness.” I needed to be reminded of that more than once during 2020! In next week’s blog I’ll tell you my word for 2021 and how I chose it. What word would you choose as your focus for this coming year?

thank you ribbon sticker. thank you sign. thank you banner

In conclusion, I’d like to thank each of you for reading. You encourage me to write, and I look forward to chatting with you every Saturday morning. Life as a caregiver is not easy, and we don’t get much thanks, win monetary prizes, or get trophies for what we do. We often do things no one else would want to do, and we do it out of love. Our rewards are not always here on earth. But God is with us and God sees  what we do for our loved ones.

Be encouraged, my friends, and don’t give up. We are in this together, and we understand what you are going through. Have a great week and