I’ve already offered a holiday greeting from Talk Birth:

And, here’s one from my family:

 

I’d also like to share this quick post round-up on relevant posts from prior years. The first is one of the most popular guest posts on this blog: Guest Post: Alcohol and Breastmilk

The second is a guest post about toddlers and Christmas: Guest Post: 8 Toddler Pitfalls to Avoid on Christmas Morning

And, a related post on Top 10 Kid Gadgets for Holiday Road Trips

The third is my own little ditty, the Twelve Days of Birth Activist Christmas

I’ve also written about Last Minute Gift Idea: Rescue Gifts

While not specifically holiday in nature, I also wanted to share that the winter edition of the Friends of Missouri Midwives newsletter is available online. Lots of great birth stories in this issue! This is my last issue as the newsletter editor and I’m stepping down after seven years of volunteer work in this role.

I want to take a moment too in acknowledgement of those whose grief is fresh, current, and raw at this time of year and for whom the holiday plans and dinners and parties may feel frivolous and painful. I will never forget that the holidays may hold memories of loss and suffering or current experiences of loss for many people (see: Holidays After Loss). I spent a very painful Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day myself following my miscarriage-birth in 2009 and I always remember those feelings at this time of year, even though the grief is no longer fresh and urgent. Mark’s dad died on Dec. 18th in 1998 and a part of us will always associate this time of year with weeping in that frozen cemetery, rather than making plans for Christmas dinner. My grandma often visited us for Thanksgiving and the passing of October also marked the passing of an entire year since we last saw her in person. We unpacked a lot of Christmas ornaments this year that she made for us and my mom and my aunt both shared similar experiences—there are many signs of her busy, creative hands on all of our trees. Thanks to my mom’s courier services, I also have this massive holiday penny rug on my kitchen wall that I couldn’t stand leaving behind in California. We’re not 100% sure that my grandma actually made it, since it doesn’t quite look like her style. However, she did make a lot of different things, including several regular sized penny rugs. And, there is are unfinished elements to this piece that make me think she did make it. Regardless though, someone put a lot of work into this enormous masterpiece!