
Why did Louise Reynolds’ novella influenced this blog? Giving and receiving is a major focus of Christmas, yet Carrie Holt (from ‘An Outback Christmas’) had closed her heart and the weather seemed to physically maroon her also. The downpour that cuts her off at her remote station also strands two others. They are in such need she has to begin giving. That opens the door to her receiving a much better Christmas than she could have imagined. The romantic novella touched my heart because it dealt with the real pain of being alone at Christmas and in the healing process my joy seemed equal with Carrie’s.
It’s a time of year that everyone seems full of cheer and yet there are undoubtedly many who find all that cheer oppressive. Even the heartiest celebrator among us has memories of Christmases past that involved people who for one reason or another aren’t around anymore.
I believe happy Christmases past are gifts to be enjoyed. Cherish the memory of those times and connect with how grateful you are to have had those times in your life. At the same time being open to more good times this year lets the cheer part in. Perhaps you don’t have any happy Christmases to warm your memories but being shut down prevents you from having joy in your life. Being open to the idea that you can have your share of the cheer this year might involve acceptance that it is different to how you imagine it. This could help make a connection to the giving and receiving side of Christmas.
Many group organisations celebrate with a Christmas party. The Melbourne Romance Writers Guild's was such a lovely celebration of our shared passion in romance writing but also our friendship. Perhaps some in our group will be having a quiet Christmas Day but they’ll have celebrated the season with friends. Also they’ll have given and received a Christmas present in our Kris Kringle. I received pretty mirrored letter blocks that spell out HOPE.
We have members who’ve been coming to the MRWG Christmas Party for years and years and new members who’ve recently joined us. You wouldn’t have known the difference as we all tucked into our communal food table. Each dish was appreciated and the donor thanked and complimented. After the conversational buzz had died down a little we had a reading event. Some of our members read two pages of their writing in the spirit of giving to the group. The listeners received the story offered and showed their appreciation with heart warming applause.
The Melbourne Romance Writers Guild wishes you all a very cheerful Christmas.