A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

“Don’t be a hermit,” my sister-in-law said

by LOU DEAN, Dinosaur, Colorado

IT HAD BEEN five years since I’d lost my husband. Five years of working through the loss one day at a time, but even so, my grief still intensified around the holidays. I sat with my morning devotional from Thessalonians reminding me to give thanks in all circumstances, even in those cold and lonely days coming up on Christmas. Thank you, God, I read, for my health, my dogs…. My cell phone rang, and I stopped there. “It’s your sister-in-law, checking in,” Cindy said. I added Clayton’s brother’s wife to my grateful list. She’d been my rock through the grueling months of Clayton’s battle with cancer and had continued to call often. Though she lived a thousand miles away, in Kansas, we were close family. “Getting in the holiday spirit?” she asked. “Trying,” I…

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The Joys Of Christmas (Digital) - 1 Issue, 2020

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