Wishes to YOU from Rolly thru Annamanila

Don't you sometimes read something and it hits you smack where your tenderness resides? This Christmas message written by Rolly Lampa, my ole high school friend, did it to me.

With Rolly's permission, I pass on these beautiful Christmas thoughts, wishing with all my heart I had written it myself for ALL OF YOU.


Christmastime is always a season of hope …. and a time for wishful thinking. These are the things I hope for and wish for you.

I wish you holidays of remarkable evenness and ordinariness. Not rollercoaster days of emotional peaks and troughs. No ecstasies or tragedies. Just days of quiet. Days you can curl up on a sofa and read a pocketbook or watch an old movie. Days of peace.

I wish you days of long forgotten pleasures – an extra half-hour in bed in the mornings; light traffic all the way to office or to the mall; short queues at the check-out counter; steaming hot coffee or frosty cold beer at the appropriate times of the day; the light of your life wearing a silly old thing that reminds you of a moment in your courtship when you both were young and the world was young with you.

I wish you days of small, splendid joys - the car pulling out from the parking bay just as you happen to turn into the parking lot; the shop assistant/office receptionist actually smiling up at you as you come in; an unexpected email from an old friend; a favorite song you haven’t heard in years now playing on the car radio; the keys or your eyeglasses just where you thought they would be; your kids (or grandkids) rushing in with a garbled greeting and a tight hug and a warm look around the eyes that says they’re actually glad you’re home.

I wish you little nuggets of happiness … the peace-be-with-you moment at midnight mass when you turn around to your loved ones and embrace and kiss each other; the count-down craziness on New Year’s eve; the warm sand on your bare feet at the beach; the tiredness at dusk on an outing that was just perfect. At such times, you get the feeling all is right with the world and the heavens.

Drive safely. Enjoy the year-end break. Be happy. God bless.

Rolly and Lynn Lampa