As a young woman, I often visited my parents’ cabin at Christmas. I enjoyed the quiet of nature and riding Dad’s horse, Scout. Photo by Earl Mansfield (my dad).

This is my 60th Christmas. I don’t remember much about the first few Christmases of my life, but I do remember several childhood holidays growing up in Iowa as well as winter times spent with my parents at their Montana cabins, first in the Bitterroot area of western Montana, and later at a more remote location northwest of Drummond, Montana. Then, there are the Christmases shared with my husband, Greg, in our Casper, Wyoming homes.

This is the 15th year he and I have shared Christmas in the house in which we now live. Sadly, we still haven’t decorated, either indoors or outdoors. We had new windows installed in my home office just after Thanksgiving, and immediately thereafter, I drove to Montana to be with my parents as a wildfire (yes, in December in Montana!) engulfed their small community of Denton. Thankfully, their home remains standing, but sadly, more than 20 of their neighbors lost their houses and many others lost sheds, barns, pastureland, and other possessions to the blaze.

A wildfire swept through the community of Denton, Montana on December 1, 2021, burning more than 20 homes to the ground plus taking fields, sheds, barns, and grain elevators. Photo by Gayle Irwin

While I was with my parents, my husband Greg painted around the new windows installed and put some new pieces of furniture together for my office. Now, I’m slowly putting the room back together as well as juggling my day job and writing projects. This weekend, I hope to put up Christmas décor.

While lights, decorations, trees, and other aspects of Christmas are delightful, it’s the love I experience at Christmas that makes this the most wonderful time of the year for me. As a Christian, the most amazing love comes from God, sending His Son Jesus to earth to live among people and then later to suffer and die on a cross, bridging the gap between God and humankind. Such love is unfathomable. Such compassion and grace.

Christmas and the cross make the difference in life. Photo from Unsplash.

I fall short on those spectrums. Oh, yes, I love my parents (I have no siblings), my husband, my friends, my colleagues, my extended family, but I’m not always filled with grace and forgiveness. My tongue can be sour; so can my attitude. I’m not a patient person, with others or myself. Yet, God loves me anyway. Even when I try to ‘be good,’ I often fail. I’m imperfect. He blesses me anyway, with family, friends, work, a home, a car, and so much more, including things I often take for granted. When the electricity was out at my parents’ after we returned to their home two days after the wildfire, I was reminded how those simple things, like lights, heat, and running water are major blessings. Yet, how often do I feel thankful for them? When the electricity, heat, and water came back on later that day, believe me, all three of us whispered prayers of gratitude!

The new year brings new hope and new plans for me – more magazines for which to write; new books to write and publish; a new website, and new adventures for travel and work. Blessing upon blessing upon blessing.

Draft book cover for a new release planned for 2022. Created in Canva by Gayle Irwin

As Christmas approaches and I reflect upon the many holidays I’ve experienced, whether rustic or modern, with candles or with lamps, wood heat or natural gas, traveling or staying home, I’m grateful for each one. I look forward to decorating this weekend and to sitting near the tree, music playing, and remembering times with my grandparents, with my parents, with Greg’s family, with him and our pets. Most of all, I look forward to gazing at the Nativity scene bequeathed to me by my mom’s mother, hand-carved from Israel, and remembering the true meaning for season, for without Christ, there is no Christ-mas.

Wishing you and your family a blessed and wonderful Christmas!

Pet Principle

Over the holidays shared with my husband, Greg, we’ve enjoyed spending them with special pets, including our blind springer spaniel, Sage, whom we adopted in early 2001, after our marriage in October 2000. Sage traveled with us to North Carolina in 2007 when we spent Christmas with Greg’s parents and his older brother and family. We drove, and what an adventure we had! That was also the year I published my first book: Sage’s Big Adventure: Living with Blindness. We enjoyed Sage’s companionship for five more years after that trip; she passed in 2012 from cancer.

Since then, other dogs, and our cats Murphy and Bailey, graced our home during the holiday season: Cody, an older, blond cocker spaniel; and Mary, a black and white springer/cocker mix. Now we have Jeremiah, a shih tzu who started life in a puppy mill, and Sadie, a brown and white springer spaniel who experienced abandonment but has found love and acceptance in our home. So many wonderful pets, so many wonderful Christmas memories!

Each animal gets a Christmas stocking filled with treats and toys. Do you give your pets presents? Share what you give that special pet (or person) at Christmas!

Here’s a link to gift ideas to give pets and/or pet lovers on your list:

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/style/g2993/best-pet-gifts/

Christmas gifts for pets? Yes or No?? Photo from Unsplash