I see the countless Christmas trees around the world below with tiny lights, like Heaven's stars, reflecting on the snow. The sight is so spectacular! Please wipe away that tear, for I am spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.

I hear the many Christmas songs that people hold so dear, but the sounds of music can't compare with the Christmas choir up here. I have no words to tell you the joy their voices bring, for it is beyond description to hear the angels sing.

I know how much you miss me. I see the pain inside your heart, even though I am so far away, we really aren't apart. So, be happy for me, loved ones. You know I hold you dear. Be glad I'm spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.

I send you each a special gift from my heavenly home above. I send you each a memory of my undying love. After all, "LOVE" is the gift more precious than gold. It was always most important in the stories Jesus told.

Please love and keep each other, as my Father said to do, for I can't count the blessings or the love He has for you.

So, have a Merry Christmas and wipe away that tear. Remember, I'm spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.

My Uncle is having his first Christmas in Heaven too this year. He died on the 12th December 2003, after a short battle with lung and brain cancer. These are the words he held onto during his illness.

"Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away into the next room. I am I, and you are you. Whatever we were to each other, that we still are. Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference in your tone, wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without effort, without the trace of a shadow on it Life means all that it ever meant. .It is the same as it ever was; there is unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am waiting for you for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner.

All is well."

~ Henry Scott Holland ~

Uncle Ron, I'm sad I only got to meet you on your death bed. We got on so well all these years on the telephone, we shared our ups and downs, we always knew we were there for each other. I'm going to miss terribly your cheerful "Hello Lass!", and your "Okay well...it's Good morning from me and Good night to you!" You were one of the few people who liked me the way I am, and never tried to change me.

Still I am grateful for the few short days we had to meet and talk, and know that our friendship was true, unlike so much in the world today. You fought in WWII, along with my Father, as part of a unified attempt to try to maintain world peace. I am humbled that you did, and proud of your efforts.

I hope that where ever you went...to that place, just around the corner, that you are happy and at peace now. Perhaps we will meet again one day, huh? I'd like that.

Love you always...
Your NZ niece...Silk

*Raises a toast to all who dwell in Fiddler's Green*

They'll be home for Christmas...if only in our dreams...
Merry Christmas everyone...*S*