Today, I was dumb and looked back at this date on the first few years of my blog, beginning with LiveJournal, which I started in 2004. I didn’t manage to get all the way to 2011, when I migrated over to this blog, before I had to stop.
Today is the date John Lennon was murdered in 1980. I posted a coloring page with some of his lyrics on Instagram and had to turn off comments because I was getting spoilers about the new Let It Be documentary. Of course I watched the original movie, but it’s been a very long time, and I’d like to see this one (which Tom and I plan to watch in segments this month, hopefully) without knowing any of the new material and having forgotten a lot of what I’ve seen before.
John Lennon was born on Wednesday, October 9, 1040; that date reminded me of a beautiful non-Beatles song I listened to again recently. “Wednesday’s Child.” I’ll link to it at the bottom of this post. It doesn’t matter how many years have passed. The year 1980 was a brutal one for me personally, and for it to end so miserably for Riley and me still leaves me raw when I think about it.
There are a lot of tough dates for me in December, and I think that’s why I finally began making a bigger deal of Christmas. The novel A Coventry Christmas starts with the main character saying, “I hate Christmas.” I once said that to my coworkers at a job, and one of the guys said, “I worry about you.” A few years later, when I was asked to write a Christmas romance, I said it again, only this time Timothy answered, “There’s your first line.” Writers… I love them, and those writers include Timothy J. Lambert, Riley Morris, and John Lennon.
Today, I added more ornaments to the tree from a bin we hadn’t opened yet. This one made me laugh when I found it. It had to go up.
The Bella and Edward ornament.
And this one. Tom was born on Christmas Day, and his uncle, who was a baker, put this on his first birthday cake. After we were married, Tom’s mother gave us a lot of special mementos like this for our holiday trees.
I’ll keep adding to the tree probably until it’s time for everything to be taken down. Because if yesterdays can make me melancholy, it’s up to me to make and appreciate better days now.
I’m Monday’s child. Riley was Tuesday’s child. John Lennon was Wednesday’s child.
Monday’s child is fair of face
Tuesday’s child is full of grace
Thursday’s child has far to go
Whoa, oh-oh-oh
Mm-mm-mm
Hmm, mm-mm-mm
Friday’s child is lovin’ and givin’
And Saturday’s child must work for a livin’
A child that’s born on the sabbath day
Whoa, oh-oh-oh
Is fair andw ise, happy and gay
Wednesday’s child is full of woe
Whoa, oh-oh-oh
Woe I know
I am Wednesday’s child
Rest in peace, Keith Allison.
I was born on a Tuesday. Oh, the irony!
I still haven’t put anything up. I will probably do so this weekend. Apologies in advance for the lack of a Christmas card. I haven’t written any so far this year.
No worries on the Christmas card! Looking forward to seeing photos of your decorations when you put them up.