Christmas 2017 Keith and Carolyn Scheidies with granddaughter Ellery
Celebrating life all year long
By Carolyn R Scheidies
Published in the Kearney Hub 1/29/2018
It seems we head right from Christmas and New Year full tilt into a year filled with celebrations and holidays. We’re a people who like to mark special events in our lives not simply with a notation in a diary or a picture, but also with celebrations. (My sister-in-law took numerous pictures everytime our families got together as our children grew up. We have a picture history, even some videos, of our families and all the celebrations we shared and continue to share together. Those pictures have become a touchstone of positive memories and a blessing to have.)
Last January 30th, 2017 our youngest grandchild, a girl, was born. A birth worthy of gifts and cards and congratulations. The weekend before Ellery’s birth, I was in Omaha for her baby shower. (We didn’t know then, the doctors would decide it was too risky for Cassie and the baby to wait any longer.) I travelled to Omaha on the weekend with my sister and close friend, returned home, repacked for a longer stay and Keith and I headed back to Omaha for the birth.
The next August we returned to Omaha for a more reverent celebration–the dedication of Ellery to God. It was a weekend of laughter and reverence as family showed up to celebrate this milestone. (I believe we took up three church pews.)
We celebrate when a couple marries and the couple celebrates their anniversary every year thereafter. (Keith and I also celebrate every month by going out to eat.)
We gather for good times like these and sad times, such as for funerals. We quietly celebrate the life of the loved one who has died. These celebrations of life are times we also mourn our loss, but gathering during these times is important for family and friends.
As though personal and family celebrations aren’t enough, we also celebrate national and cultural holidays like Valentine’s Day–celebrating love, Easter–remembering the resurrection of the Savior who loved us enough to die and lived again to offer love and life in Him. We celebrate, with great fanfare Independence Day. Heading into fall, we go from Halloween and Thanksgiving, right into Christmas and New Year.
Around the year, we celebrate and celebrate again. We celebrate because we understand the value of getting together as family and friends to mark special events. This helps imprint positive memories in our minds that we can recall when life isn’t all roses and sunshine.
Most of all, I believe we choose to celebrate because we understand, on the deepest level, the value and worth of life itself. That’s something to continue to celebrate all year long.
Read more in my autobiography The Day Secretariat Won the Triple Crown