Complete list of Petals & Pages Press Publications
and links so you can order directly from Amazon.com
Books and Websites by Hank Bruce & Tomi Jill Folk
https://www.amazon.com/author/hankbruce
http://petalsandpagespress.weebly.com
http://horttherapywithhankbruce.weebly.com
http://facebook.com/PetalsandPagesPress
http://twitter.com/hungergrowaway
books written by Hank Bruce
Enchanted by the Light http://amazon.com/dp/1466441747
Kindle edition http://amazon.com/dp/B00AGX6H1W
Peace Beyond All Fear, a Tribute to John Denver’s Vision
“2008 New Mexico Book Award Anthology Winner”
http://amazon.com/dp/0979705738
Kindle edition http://amazon.com/dp/B009EBN5J4
Oblivion, a Novel Place to Live http://amazon.com/dp/0979705703
Kindle edition http://amazon.com/dp/B0091HQYTE
Gardens for the Senses, Gardening as Therapy http://amazon.com/dp/0970596251
Gardens for the Senses, Gardening as Therapy, Revised & Expanded
Kindle edition http://amazon.com/dp/B00ADF4AGC
Courage to Create, a workbook for writers http://amazon.com/dp/1883114144
Uncommon Scents: Growing Herbs and Spices in Florida
http://amazon.com/dp/0932855504
Yankee’s Guide to Florida Gardening
http://amazon.com/dp/0932855458
Nelson’s Guide to Florida Roses, written with Mark Nelson
http://amazon.com/dp/1883114160
The Pocket Library to Florida Gardening:
Florida Gardening for Seniors http://amazon.com/dp/0932855539
Easy Plants for Your Florida Landscape http://amazon.com/dp/0932855512
Dangerous Plants in Florida http://amazon.com/dp/0932855520
Growing Kids in the Garden http://amazon.com/dp/0932855547
Hank’s stories, “Enchanted by the Light” and “Wooden Indians and Cedar Cowboys”
are both include in the NM Book Co-op’s Anthology: Voices of New Mexico
“2011 New Mexico Book Awards Anthology Finalist”
http://amazon.com/dp/189068967X
books written by Hank Bruce & Tomi Jill Folk
The Family Caregiver’s Journal: A Guide to Facing the Terminal Illness of a Loved One
“Caliente Award Winner” from Reading New Mexico.com 2009
for a “hot read that belongs in every home and library”
http://amazon.com/dp/078801434X
Global Gardening http://amazon.com/dp/0932855741
The Abundant Harvest Garden for The American Southwest, excerpt of Global Gardening
Gardening Projects for Horticultural Therapy Programs
http://amazon.com/dp/0970596227
Garden Projects for the Classroom and Special Learning Programs
http://amazon.com/dp/0970596219
Windowsill Whimsy, Gardening & Horticultural Therapy Projects for Small Spaces
“2009 New Mexico Book Awards Winner, Gardening Book”
http://amazon.com/dp/0979705746
Along the Garden Path
“2011 New Mexico Book Awards Finalist, Gardening Book”
http://amazon.com/dp/0979705754
Seniors Illustrated, Volume 1 http://amazon.com/dp/0979705770
Seniors Illustrated, Volume 2 http://amazon.com/dp/0979705762
For the above books and classes taught throughout the USA, the
“Distinguished Merit Award, 2008,
is proudly presented to Petals & Pages Press, Hank Bruce and Tomi Jill Folk
by the Northern California Council of Activity Coordinators
for Service and Dedication to the Activity Profession and their organization.”
Miracle of the Moringa Tree, illustrated by Miho Komatsu
“2011 New Mexico Book Awards Finalist, Children’s Picture Book” http://amazon.com/dp/1460949234
The Pumpkin Parade, Kindle edition http://amazon.com/dp/B009O3DDR6
books written by Tomi Jill Folk
Visits with the Old Indian Storyteller
“2008 Finalist, New Mexico Book Awards New Age Book”
http://amazon.com/dp/0979705711
Stasha Dog’s Secret Dream, A Hot Air Balloon Adventure
“2011 New Mexico Book Awards Children’s Activity Book”
Also Published by Petals & Pages Press
Cue Tips, A Stage Management Handbook for High School Theatre
by Elizabeth D. Ward
“2008 New Mexico Book Awards Finalist, Young Adult Books”
http://amazon.com/dp/097970572X
https://www.amazon.com/author/hankbruce
http://petalsandpagespress.weebly.com
http://horttherapywithhankbruce.weebly.com
http://facebook.com/PetalsandPagesPress
http://twitter.com/hungergrowaway
books written by Hank Bruce
Enchanted by the Light http://amazon.com/dp/1466441747
Kindle edition http://amazon.com/dp/B00AGX6H1W
Peace Beyond All Fear, a Tribute to John Denver’s Vision
“2008 New Mexico Book Award Anthology Winner”
http://amazon.com/dp/0979705738
Kindle edition http://amazon.com/dp/B009EBN5J4
Oblivion, a Novel Place to Live http://amazon.com/dp/0979705703
Kindle edition http://amazon.com/dp/B0091HQYTE
Gardens for the Senses, Gardening as Therapy http://amazon.com/dp/0970596251
Gardens for the Senses, Gardening as Therapy, Revised & Expanded
Kindle edition http://amazon.com/dp/B00ADF4AGC
Courage to Create, a workbook for writers http://amazon.com/dp/1883114144
Uncommon Scents: Growing Herbs and Spices in Florida
http://amazon.com/dp/0932855504
Yankee’s Guide to Florida Gardening
http://amazon.com/dp/0932855458
Nelson’s Guide to Florida Roses, written with Mark Nelson
http://amazon.com/dp/1883114160
The Pocket Library to Florida Gardening:
Florida Gardening for Seniors http://amazon.com/dp/0932855539
Easy Plants for Your Florida Landscape http://amazon.com/dp/0932855512
Dangerous Plants in Florida http://amazon.com/dp/0932855520
Growing Kids in the Garden http://amazon.com/dp/0932855547
Hank’s stories, “Enchanted by the Light” and “Wooden Indians and Cedar Cowboys”
are both include in the NM Book Co-op’s Anthology: Voices of New Mexico
“2011 New Mexico Book Awards Anthology Finalist”
http://amazon.com/dp/189068967X
books written by Hank Bruce & Tomi Jill Folk
The Family Caregiver’s Journal: A Guide to Facing the Terminal Illness of a Loved One
“Caliente Award Winner” from Reading New Mexico.com 2009
for a “hot read that belongs in every home and library”
http://amazon.com/dp/078801434X
Global Gardening http://amazon.com/dp/0932855741
The Abundant Harvest Garden for The American Southwest, excerpt of Global Gardening
Gardening Projects for Horticultural Therapy Programs
http://amazon.com/dp/0970596227
Garden Projects for the Classroom and Special Learning Programs
http://amazon.com/dp/0970596219
Windowsill Whimsy, Gardening & Horticultural Therapy Projects for Small Spaces
“2009 New Mexico Book Awards Winner, Gardening Book”
http://amazon.com/dp/0979705746
Along the Garden Path
“2011 New Mexico Book Awards Finalist, Gardening Book”
http://amazon.com/dp/0979705754
Seniors Illustrated, Volume 1 http://amazon.com/dp/0979705770
Seniors Illustrated, Volume 2 http://amazon.com/dp/0979705762
For the above books and classes taught throughout the USA, the
“Distinguished Merit Award, 2008,
is proudly presented to Petals & Pages Press, Hank Bruce and Tomi Jill Folk
by the Northern California Council of Activity Coordinators
for Service and Dedication to the Activity Profession and their organization.”
Miracle of the Moringa Tree, illustrated by Miho Komatsu
“2011 New Mexico Book Awards Finalist, Children’s Picture Book” http://amazon.com/dp/1460949234
The Pumpkin Parade, Kindle edition http://amazon.com/dp/B009O3DDR6
books written by Tomi Jill Folk
Visits with the Old Indian Storyteller
“2008 Finalist, New Mexico Book Awards New Age Book”
http://amazon.com/dp/0979705711
Stasha Dog’s Secret Dream, A Hot Air Balloon Adventure
“2011 New Mexico Book Awards Children’s Activity Book”
Also Published by Petals & Pages Press
Cue Tips, A Stage Management Handbook for High School Theatre
by Elizabeth D. Ward
“2008 New Mexico Book Awards Finalist, Young Adult Books”
http://amazon.com/dp/097970572X
http://www.amazon.com/The-Pumpkin-Parade-ebook/dp/B009O3DDR6
THE PUMPKIN PARADE
New book now available as an eBook on Amazon Kindle
What happens to all the pumpkins left over after Halloween? This is a lighthearted and inspirational story involving a community coming together from school children to senior citizens to answer this question and be a part of the solution to the problem of hunger.
But there is more than the story. You will find pumpkin recipes and nutritional information about pumpkins, pumpkin seeds, even the flowers and leaves. There is also a just for fun pumpkin quiz. Great resource for teachers and families alike.There are even some notes of pumpkins who have been major characters in literature, from Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin to the pumpkin Shakespeare mentioned in The Merry Wives of Windsor.
This Kindle edition is easy to download and the price is only 99 cents. Even if you don't have a Kindle reader you can download any Kindle eBook by downloading the free app to your PC, Laptop or other device.
On the Amazon book page you can "look inside the book, and read comments by other readers. Perhaps you would like to write a review and post it yourself.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Pumpkin-Parade-ebook/dp/B009O3DDR6
But there is more than the story. You will find pumpkin recipes and nutritional information about pumpkins, pumpkin seeds, even the flowers and leaves. There is also a just for fun pumpkin quiz. Great resource for teachers and families alike.There are even some notes of pumpkins who have been major characters in literature, from Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin to the pumpkin Shakespeare mentioned in The Merry Wives of Windsor.
This Kindle edition is easy to download and the price is only 99 cents. Even if you don't have a Kindle reader you can download any Kindle eBook by downloading the free app to your PC, Laptop or other device.
On the Amazon book page you can "look inside the book, and read comments by other readers. Perhaps you would like to write a review and post it yourself.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Pumpkin-Parade-ebook/dp/B009O3DDR6
Enchanted by the Light,
15 Short Stories Celebrating
Christmas in New Mexico
by Hank Bruce
128 ages, 8 1/2 x 11 trade paperback
Special price through Christmas 2011 $10.00
NOW AVAILABLE
Welcome to Christmas in New Mexico
We don’t see many Christmas stories about a WWII Vet with Alzheimer’s, or a child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome trying ot find her way to Chimayo to bring the gift a the healing soil back to her dying grandfather, or the adverntures of a Viet Nam Vet with PTSD who makes friends with some tumbleweed, or a bunch of teens on their way to juvenile detention, or an Alcoholic college professor looking for a bar. There is also a true account of a visit to uniquely New Mexico post office the wek before Christmas. These stories give voice to real people, not the mythical talking animals and perfect little suburban children with blonde hair and blue eyes waiting for Santa.
This book celebrates the diversity of New Mexico’s people, cultures and landscapes. They explore the diversity of challenges many of our family members face. For each of these stories this, the fifth season of the year, is a special time, where, in this darkest month of the year, the people, all the people, can be the light.
Hank wrote these stories with New Mexico settings and New Mexico people, but these folks can be found everywhere. These are uplifting tales, filled with the enchantment that is so much a part of the lure of this place. The celebration of the season goes beyond one culture or place to embrace all humanity. Each journey through life is a matter of discovery, sharing, caring for one another and being the gift more than receiving the gift. Christmas may be the moment in time when we shine, but each of us is a gift every day of our lives, and so is everyone we chance to meet in this journey for which there is no road map. But we do have each other, friends and strangers, to light the way.
We hope you will be enchanted by the light that each of these tales shines on some very special people. Wherever in the world you are join these New Mexicans as they illuminate the season and in the process make you smile, laugh out loud and maybe even shed a tear.
128 ages, 8 1/2 x 11 trade paperback
Special price through Christmas 2011 $10.00
NOW AVAILABLE
Welcome to Christmas in New Mexico
We don’t see many Christmas stories about a WWII Vet with Alzheimer’s, or a child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome trying ot find her way to Chimayo to bring the gift a the healing soil back to her dying grandfather, or the adverntures of a Viet Nam Vet with PTSD who makes friends with some tumbleweed, or a bunch of teens on their way to juvenile detention, or an Alcoholic college professor looking for a bar. There is also a true account of a visit to uniquely New Mexico post office the wek before Christmas. These stories give voice to real people, not the mythical talking animals and perfect little suburban children with blonde hair and blue eyes waiting for Santa.
This book celebrates the diversity of New Mexico’s people, cultures and landscapes. They explore the diversity of challenges many of our family members face. For each of these stories this, the fifth season of the year, is a special time, where, in this darkest month of the year, the people, all the people, can be the light.
Hank wrote these stories with New Mexico settings and New Mexico people, but these folks can be found everywhere. These are uplifting tales, filled with the enchantment that is so much a part of the lure of this place. The celebration of the season goes beyond one culture or place to embrace all humanity. Each journey through life is a matter of discovery, sharing, caring for one another and being the gift more than receiving the gift. Christmas may be the moment in time when we shine, but each of us is a gift every day of our lives, and so is everyone we chance to meet in this journey for which there is no road map. But we do have each other, friends and strangers, to light the way.
We hope you will be enchanted by the light that each of these tales shines on some very special people. Wherever in the world you are join these New Mexicans as they illuminate the season and in the process make you smile, laugh out loud and maybe even shed a tear.
An excerpt, The title story; Enchanted by the Light
Mac celebrated his ninetieth birthday this week, twelve days before Christmas. For years he has been our Kokopelli figure, wandering the neighborhood with the black garbage bag slung over his shoulder, collecting the aluminum cans the careless have discarded. Some look down on Mac, call him a scavenger, or a crazy old man. Children tease and taunt, but this old man is neither crazy nor ignorant. His reality is both bitter and sweet. Mac is a hero, a wounded veteran of the Second World War. But he is also a wounded veteran of life, who, like all of us, is gradually losing that battle.
He lives in the light and shadow of the long ago yesterdays, while today lies shattered within his mind. Images from childhood, and distant memories from long ago remain crisp and clear. These are the mental treasures that flash through his mind in brilliant Technicolor. It is the past still warm that’s hazy, disconnected, like attempting to put together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle without the picture on the box to guide you.
Mac can list for you all the aches and pains that savage his aging body, but he continues to walk the streets, collecting his cans. Great bags full of cans fill his garage, waiting for a neighbor with an afternoon free to take him and his accumulation of aluminum, copper wire and other metal scraps harvested from construction sites and neighborhood garbage cans to the recycling center. There he will trade the fruits of his labor for the cash needed to help pay for the list of medications that keep his aging body functioning. This pocket full of dollars he receives also goes toward the few lottery tickets he purchases every week, living in eternal hope of being a winner.
He almost daily knocks on our door, seeking a ride to the Wal-Mart or simply to his home up the hill a few blocks. It’s a ritual now. He comes into the living room, greeted by our dogs who lead him to the recliner. While the dogs serve as friendly hosts we heat a glass of apple juice for him. He tells the same stories over and over again, because he can’t remember telling them to us before. We hear about being left for dead on the battlefield in France, about General Patton running out of medals before that officer got to this black soldier.
He jokes about the girl he saw on the motorcycle, about getting too old to chase the women, about his childhood in Canada and his life in New York as the conductor on the subway. The first time you hear these stories they are interesting. After hearing them repeated for months you start to get tired of them. But, if we don’t see Mac for a few days, we miss the stories, long for them like a security blanket that tells us he is all right, or at least ok.
Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease for both the person with a memory that doesn’t work very well anymore, and the people who share life with the victim. In many ways those who love or care about someone with this dementia are as much a victim as the one whose mind is like an old string of Christmas lights, with first one bulb going out, then another, then another. It forces us to come to terms with what we expect of other people, how we function with them when part of their mind is misplaced.
Mac takes childish delight in the Christmas lights strung along the eaves of the homes and about the yards throughout the neighborhood. After the holidays each year, he will gather the discarded strings of lights from the garbage cans and spend days testing, replacing bulbs and wrapping them on pieces of cardboard. He stores them in boxes on the shelves of his garage. Next year he’ll give them to neighbors who don’t have lights on their houses. He is truly enchanted by the lights, by the light of the moment.
He may not remember your name, or what car you used to drive him to the Chevron Station to get his lottery tickets, or the Blake’s Lotta Burger to get something for dinner, but he willingly gives you the little treasures he picks up along the streets and sidewalks of his Rio Rancho neighborhood. To some they are junk, but they have come to mean something far more significant than a magnet for the fridge, or a tiny discarded doll for the little girl next door. His mind may not make all the connections it once did, but he is still capable of teaching us all a lesson in humanity.
As Christmas day approaches we again contemplate what would be a good and proper gift for this man who has lived through so much, been a survivor at war and life, who can no longer drive, whose aging legs still carry him but with no small measure of discomfort, even if they won’t take him as far as they did a couple years ago.
Among his favorite foods are corned beef hash, TV dinners and ice cream. One has to wonder, with a diet like this, how he has remained sufficiently thin and active to celebrate his ninetieth birthday.
The annual question becomes, "What can we give Mac for Christmas this year?" We could give him a junk food basket, complete with our special homemade gingerbread cookies. But this, except for the cookies, is everyday fare that doesn’t speak at all of this special season, or of his ability to be enchanted by the moment.
Perhaps a stocking full of lottery tickets would be just the thing. But, it’s a part of the gambler’s instinct to play the game themselves, to beat their own odds. The joy of gambling is in the undying hope, the personal commitment, investment and risk made all by yourself. How can we deny him that independence, that thrill?
Cash would be something he can use, the universal gift card. But, to give him money that will be spent tomorrow, after all recollection of its source has faded, seems to be a shallow gift, more to answer our need to give something, but without the thought and effort that would make it really meaningful.
He came to the door late this afternoon. "Boy! Sure did get dark early," he said as he put his bag of cans down outside the door. "I don’t suppose you have something warm to drink do you?" he asked as the dogs greeted him with the enthusiasm only dogs can show. They led him to the familiar chair while we heated his traditional drink.
We knew that in the dark he can’t find his way home. The street signs don’t help because he often can’t recall the street where he lives. After a few minutes to relax and share a story for the thousandth time, we ask, "Mac, it’s cold out there. Can we drive you home?"
Of course he agrees and we load his bag of cans, often smelling of stale beer, in the trunk and deliver him to the relative safety of his home, his ailing wife and their niece who is undergoing chemo-therapy treatments.
Traveling the six blocks to his home we pass numerous houses and yards with multitudes of lights. The childish delight returns. No sad words about the pain of aging, no comments about how difficult it is to be aware of the gradual disintegration of your mind.
How often he laments, "I just can’t seem to remember anymore." But none of these thoughts enter his head as he lives in the moment of twinkling lights in all the brilliant colors one can imagine, even when he can’t remember their names any more.
We are living with the shortest days of the year. The early demise of the sun confuses him, as it does most of us. We are much like the plants that need the sunshine to live and grow. If we don’t get enough light we suffer both physically and mentally. Those among us with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SADS) experience depression, are more likely to fall victim to the germs and viruses floating around in the gloom and darkness of the short winter days.
Even New Mexico, where we are all enchanted by the light, feels the creeping darkness of the winter solstice. But we have our lights for the season. From hilltop and mountain side we can look down on our city lights, these beacons of life and community.
During this season of long nights and cloudy skies we celebrate the birth of a child born under the bright light of a star. We welcome anew each year that child who was, is and ever will be, a guiding light of peace, a beacon of compassion, a soft illumination for the pathway to the ultimate mystery. This is the season of light, not darkness.
Perhaps we need the dark clouds and lengthy night sky to prepare us all for the brilliance of the sun on the new snow. How can we see the stars without the blue-black sky? How can we see the goodness that lives within each heart without the darkness of the evening news? How can we treasure the powerful light that resides in the smile of every child without the frown found on harried adults? How could we free our spirits to be enchanted by the light, if that light didn’t contrast with something else within us?
To other faiths this is a Festival of Lights. There is the piling of wood for a great bonfire for some, while for others it’s the simple lighting of a lamp. In the darkest of lands the glow of a distant Aurora Borealis can be found. These are not just symbolic flames. They illuminate the spirit within us. They truly enchant all of us willing to set aside the heavy burdens of yesterday and tomorrow and live in the moment.
Mac lives very much in the moment. He is one who can be totally enchanted by the lights of the season. Perhaps the best gift we can give him is a ride beyond his neighborhood, to be enchanted by the light of the season. We think of gifts in terms of how much should we spend? How long will it last? Does it make memories?
But, so often, the best gifts require no sacrifice and are of the moment. We can give a smile, and it will be returned. We can give a kind word that tells someone we care. We can give the gift of a moment of our time to listen, even if the story has been told many times before. We can all be enchanted by these gifts; the gestures, words and moments are all bright, colorful lights that illuminate the spirit of humanity, reflect the love of both the Creator and all creation.
As we age our world becomes smaller and smaller. As elders our existence diminishes, from community to neighborhood, from neighborhood to block, then to house, then to room. The contact with others also becomes more and more limited, until there is nothing, no one left.
This year we will give Mac the simple gift of a trip among the lights, beyond his neighborhood. His gift will be the simple gift of momentary enchantment. The words of wonder, the eyes wide with childish delight, the smile of one truly enchanted will be his gift to us as we all treasure the moment, a moment shared.
He lives in the light and shadow of the long ago yesterdays, while today lies shattered within his mind. Images from childhood, and distant memories from long ago remain crisp and clear. These are the mental treasures that flash through his mind in brilliant Technicolor. It is the past still warm that’s hazy, disconnected, like attempting to put together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle without the picture on the box to guide you.
Mac can list for you all the aches and pains that savage his aging body, but he continues to walk the streets, collecting his cans. Great bags full of cans fill his garage, waiting for a neighbor with an afternoon free to take him and his accumulation of aluminum, copper wire and other metal scraps harvested from construction sites and neighborhood garbage cans to the recycling center. There he will trade the fruits of his labor for the cash needed to help pay for the list of medications that keep his aging body functioning. This pocket full of dollars he receives also goes toward the few lottery tickets he purchases every week, living in eternal hope of being a winner.
He almost daily knocks on our door, seeking a ride to the Wal-Mart or simply to his home up the hill a few blocks. It’s a ritual now. He comes into the living room, greeted by our dogs who lead him to the recliner. While the dogs serve as friendly hosts we heat a glass of apple juice for him. He tells the same stories over and over again, because he can’t remember telling them to us before. We hear about being left for dead on the battlefield in France, about General Patton running out of medals before that officer got to this black soldier.
He jokes about the girl he saw on the motorcycle, about getting too old to chase the women, about his childhood in Canada and his life in New York as the conductor on the subway. The first time you hear these stories they are interesting. After hearing them repeated for months you start to get tired of them. But, if we don’t see Mac for a few days, we miss the stories, long for them like a security blanket that tells us he is all right, or at least ok.
Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease for both the person with a memory that doesn’t work very well anymore, and the people who share life with the victim. In many ways those who love or care about someone with this dementia are as much a victim as the one whose mind is like an old string of Christmas lights, with first one bulb going out, then another, then another. It forces us to come to terms with what we expect of other people, how we function with them when part of their mind is misplaced.
Mac takes childish delight in the Christmas lights strung along the eaves of the homes and about the yards throughout the neighborhood. After the holidays each year, he will gather the discarded strings of lights from the garbage cans and spend days testing, replacing bulbs and wrapping them on pieces of cardboard. He stores them in boxes on the shelves of his garage. Next year he’ll give them to neighbors who don’t have lights on their houses. He is truly enchanted by the lights, by the light of the moment.
He may not remember your name, or what car you used to drive him to the Chevron Station to get his lottery tickets, or the Blake’s Lotta Burger to get something for dinner, but he willingly gives you the little treasures he picks up along the streets and sidewalks of his Rio Rancho neighborhood. To some they are junk, but they have come to mean something far more significant than a magnet for the fridge, or a tiny discarded doll for the little girl next door. His mind may not make all the connections it once did, but he is still capable of teaching us all a lesson in humanity.
As Christmas day approaches we again contemplate what would be a good and proper gift for this man who has lived through so much, been a survivor at war and life, who can no longer drive, whose aging legs still carry him but with no small measure of discomfort, even if they won’t take him as far as they did a couple years ago.
Among his favorite foods are corned beef hash, TV dinners and ice cream. One has to wonder, with a diet like this, how he has remained sufficiently thin and active to celebrate his ninetieth birthday.
The annual question becomes, "What can we give Mac for Christmas this year?" We could give him a junk food basket, complete with our special homemade gingerbread cookies. But this, except for the cookies, is everyday fare that doesn’t speak at all of this special season, or of his ability to be enchanted by the moment.
Perhaps a stocking full of lottery tickets would be just the thing. But, it’s a part of the gambler’s instinct to play the game themselves, to beat their own odds. The joy of gambling is in the undying hope, the personal commitment, investment and risk made all by yourself. How can we deny him that independence, that thrill?
Cash would be something he can use, the universal gift card. But, to give him money that will be spent tomorrow, after all recollection of its source has faded, seems to be a shallow gift, more to answer our need to give something, but without the thought and effort that would make it really meaningful.
He came to the door late this afternoon. "Boy! Sure did get dark early," he said as he put his bag of cans down outside the door. "I don’t suppose you have something warm to drink do you?" he asked as the dogs greeted him with the enthusiasm only dogs can show. They led him to the familiar chair while we heated his traditional drink.
We knew that in the dark he can’t find his way home. The street signs don’t help because he often can’t recall the street where he lives. After a few minutes to relax and share a story for the thousandth time, we ask, "Mac, it’s cold out there. Can we drive you home?"
Of course he agrees and we load his bag of cans, often smelling of stale beer, in the trunk and deliver him to the relative safety of his home, his ailing wife and their niece who is undergoing chemo-therapy treatments.
Traveling the six blocks to his home we pass numerous houses and yards with multitudes of lights. The childish delight returns. No sad words about the pain of aging, no comments about how difficult it is to be aware of the gradual disintegration of your mind.
How often he laments, "I just can’t seem to remember anymore." But none of these thoughts enter his head as he lives in the moment of twinkling lights in all the brilliant colors one can imagine, even when he can’t remember their names any more.
We are living with the shortest days of the year. The early demise of the sun confuses him, as it does most of us. We are much like the plants that need the sunshine to live and grow. If we don’t get enough light we suffer both physically and mentally. Those among us with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SADS) experience depression, are more likely to fall victim to the germs and viruses floating around in the gloom and darkness of the short winter days.
Even New Mexico, where we are all enchanted by the light, feels the creeping darkness of the winter solstice. But we have our lights for the season. From hilltop and mountain side we can look down on our city lights, these beacons of life and community.
During this season of long nights and cloudy skies we celebrate the birth of a child born under the bright light of a star. We welcome anew each year that child who was, is and ever will be, a guiding light of peace, a beacon of compassion, a soft illumination for the pathway to the ultimate mystery. This is the season of light, not darkness.
Perhaps we need the dark clouds and lengthy night sky to prepare us all for the brilliance of the sun on the new snow. How can we see the stars without the blue-black sky? How can we see the goodness that lives within each heart without the darkness of the evening news? How can we treasure the powerful light that resides in the smile of every child without the frown found on harried adults? How could we free our spirits to be enchanted by the light, if that light didn’t contrast with something else within us?
To other faiths this is a Festival of Lights. There is the piling of wood for a great bonfire for some, while for others it’s the simple lighting of a lamp. In the darkest of lands the glow of a distant Aurora Borealis can be found. These are not just symbolic flames. They illuminate the spirit within us. They truly enchant all of us willing to set aside the heavy burdens of yesterday and tomorrow and live in the moment.
Mac lives very much in the moment. He is one who can be totally enchanted by the lights of the season. Perhaps the best gift we can give him is a ride beyond his neighborhood, to be enchanted by the light of the season. We think of gifts in terms of how much should we spend? How long will it last? Does it make memories?
But, so often, the best gifts require no sacrifice and are of the moment. We can give a smile, and it will be returned. We can give a kind word that tells someone we care. We can give the gift of a moment of our time to listen, even if the story has been told many times before. We can all be enchanted by these gifts; the gestures, words and moments are all bright, colorful lights that illuminate the spirit of humanity, reflect the love of both the Creator and all creation.
As we age our world becomes smaller and smaller. As elders our existence diminishes, from community to neighborhood, from neighborhood to block, then to house, then to room. The contact with others also becomes more and more limited, until there is nothing, no one left.
This year we will give Mac the simple gift of a trip among the lights, beyond his neighborhood. His gift will be the simple gift of momentary enchantment. The words of wonder, the eyes wide with childish delight, the smile of one truly enchanted will be his gift to us as we all treasure the moment, a moment shared.