It’s Christmas Eve
tomorrow
we will begin gather around
the many Holiday tables
that aren’t always 
so nicely set; 
The Pandemic limited us
but sometimes there are things that separate us
.     .     .that keep us from being with one another
that we can’t blame any disease 
that literally keeps the holidays 
UN-happening. . .

Maybe now more than ever
There still is
THE TABLE
before us
inviting us to gather around it. . .
and it’s not so much as who’s at your table
as maybe who’s been
un-invited
un-wanted. . .

What gets us all
AT THE TABLE
is not our
once-upon-a-time
lockdowns
or
ever to present
f l a w l e s s n e s s e s
but the
jumbled
tumbled
Up Messes
we all are
while we still manage to
S H I N E

Pull up a Chair. . .
there’s plenty of room at
T H E
T A B L E
(MOST ESPECIALLY NOW)
and it’s always so less
. . .so very much less
when not
E V E R Y O N E
is
T H E R E

A Ukrainian child sheltering in a bunker has received attention from Broadway star Idina Menzel and ITV’s Holly Willoughby after a video of her singing Let It Go went viral on social media. The young girl, believed to be called Amelia, was captured singing the hit from the Disney film Frozen in her native tongue from an underground bunker in the capital Kyiv, as people gathered around to watch. The video, posted to Facebook by user Marta Smekhova, has garnered more than 86,000 likes and been watched 3.6 million times since it was posted to the platform on Thursday. Menzel, who voiced the lead role of Elsa in Disney’s 2013 musical, showed her support for Amelia to her more than 680,000 followers on Twitter. The star reposted the video with yellow and a blue heart emojis and wrote: “We see you. We really, really see you.” Alongside the original video posted on Facebook, Ms Smekhova wrote that she had spoken to the little girl after spotting her drawing “bright pictures” in the dim light of the shelter. Translated from Ukrainian to English by Google, her post reads: “She told (me) that in addition to drawing she loves to sing… and whispered her dream that she wants to sing on the big stage in front of an audience. “I said do you see how many people are here? Here for them you will sing.” Ms Smekhova wrote that she was initially worried that no-one would be able to hear Amelia’s singing, but continued: “From the first word there was complete silence in the bomb shelter.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.   .   .
LISTEN AGAIN
LISTEN PAST THE WORDS
LISTEN PAST THE FAMILIAR TUNE
and hear.          .           .
I don’t speak and certainly don’t sing Ukrainian
but I knew the song from the melody
and isn’t that a great definition of
F     A     I     T     H :
NOT ALWAYS UNDERSTANDING THE WORDS
BUT KNOWING THE MELODY
.         .          .there is much in this World
that makes me question
or worse,
D  O  U  B  T
but hearing that little girl’s voice
gives a little bit of boost of faith in humanity
and how it continues to excel in the
face of evil.        .         .
FOR TODAY
maybe that little girl’s voice
is the only bit of faith
we need right now.          .          .
LET IT GO