It's okay to have the holiday blues. For some people it's true all the time, and for others it happens every now and then.  The holidays arrive, and it's not a happy time.  If you are missing someone who has died or left your life forever, this can be a time of more intense mourning, a time of tears, a time of sitting alone and looking through old photographs and remembering what once was.  If the holidays have always been a bad time in your family, when relatives mistreated each other or got drunk and abusive, these may be times that bring the memory of misery to the surface.  For some, the holiday in this place and time is a sad echo of holidays in another place in another time, in a land with the comfort of being surrounded by familiar customs and people.

I want to invite anyone with the holiday blues to come to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Manchester on Thursday, December 11, at 7:00 PM to be with others who have similar feelings, just to be together for the comfort we can offer one another.  We'll have gentle music and light some candles.  There will be a chance to share your story or acknowledge it in silence.  We are located at 669 Union Street, Manchester, just four blocks north of Bridge street.  Our web address is www.uumanchester.org, or call 625-6854 for more information. The church also offers a vegetarian supper on Thursday evenings at 6:00 PM for a suggested donation of $3 per person, so if you're coming from work or whatever, feel free to join in.

May there be tidings of comfort and joy for everyone this holiday season!