As a reader and editor for River Teeth, one of my major biases was dying mom stories. Writers think just because their loved one has died or might die or is dying, they ought to write about her. It’s sad. It’s hard. It’s life changing. So we write dying mom stories. The trouble with the vastContinueContinue reading “Dying Mom Stories and New Year’s Resolutions”
Monthly Archives: December 2015
Merry Christmas!
All throughout the month of December, I considered what “Emmanuel: God With Us” has meant and means for me during this advent season. Here’s my final thoughts on the matter. Have a Merry Christmas, everyone!
Advent Day 24: Legacy
Each year I write in what I refer to, ever so creatively, as the Christmas Book. It’s an unlined journal with a green velvet and gemstone cover I started keeping the year Elvis was born. At the time I must have had more time on my hands because I would write as the advent seasonContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 24: Legacy”
Advent Day 23: Recap and Wrap-Up
Friends, it’s two days until Christmas. Last night, a puppy slept on my lap and I watched A Very Murray Christmas because massages are relaxing, so no Christmas gifts were wrapped and no cinnamon ornaments were tied with little hooks and instead of some anecdote-turned-devotional you are getting this uninspired blog post. Earlier yesterday, I exchangedContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 23: Recap and Wrap-Up”
Advent Day 22: Lobster Holiday
There were a few years after I moved out of elementary school when my younger brothers’ holiday parties had strict rules about the religiosity of the celebrations. Nothing could even slightly echo Jesus’s birth. To be fair, I’m pretty sure it was also a Menorah-Free Zone. Children could make snowmen, snowflakes, and reindeer out of candy canesContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 22: Lobster Holiday”
Advent Day 21: Winter Solstice
In November, our lips trembled with the breath of winter etched in frost across the windows. We gazed at dawn’s arrival casting bands of icy glitter on brass and copper oak leaves holding tight to frozen branches, as if they could stop the turn of seasons, suspend the spin of Earth around the sun, butContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 21: Winter Solstice”
Advent Day 20: Candle of Love?
On the fourth Sunday of Advent, we light the candle of love. In the glow of that candle shines the suspension of a faculty member at Wheaton for wearing a hijab, the president of Liberty University calling Christian students to take up arms against “those Muslims,” potential candidates for President competing to see who can keepContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 20: Candle of Love?”
Advent Day 19: Super Suits
Today is the only day between now and Christmas Eve that has no agenda, just one big empty block on my Google Calendar. What on earth will we do? For days leading up to this momentous occasion I have pondered in spare moments how we might fill this time. What activities around town could weContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 19: Super Suits”
Advent Day 18: Dance with Me
The past several years I’ve tried with varying degrees of success to incorporate advent activities to help make this season special, to be intentional about our time together. Last year, the transition following our move to Copley and a new job combined with Brandon’s football travel season made it a little more difficult. We didn’tContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 18: Dance with Me”
Advent Day 17: Real or Not Real
A couple of weekends ago, I drove from the hospital where my mom is undergoing treatments to kill the silent cancer, to the luxury cinema on the south side of Cleveland to watch The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part Two. When I walked into the theater, there sat LeeAnn and Jillian who bounded up with hugs.ContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 17: Real or Not Real”
Sarah Marie Wells 