A Christmas Card for My Beloved AC Friends

Merry Christmas my dear friends. Another year has come an gone. Here at AC I have made more friends and have kept the old. I feel like I know many of you more than I know some of my friends and family in my outside world. We have bonded and shared our lives, hearts, problems and dreams. We have hopefully grown in our writing abilities and success.

I was sending out my Christmas cards and knew that I would want to include all of you in this Christmas too. Some of you are not Christian, and I don't want to offend anyone if you aren't. My Christmas card is from a stained glass window in a church in our community. It is from St. Paul's United Methodist Church. We don't go to church there but have friends that do. When we have gone to certain functions there, including AA and Alanon meetings, I stand in awe at the beauty of their stained glass windows. They are works of art. I have painted one of them for my Christmas cards this year and am including it for you my AC friends.

!Many of us have had nearly insurmountable problems this year. We are included in many of these issues. Family estrangement, loss of friends through death. We have also lost friends from AC. Betty Malone passed away suddenly and tragically. She published her last article on the very die that she died.

Maria Roth has shared her pain, fears and inspirations with us about her precious little daughter, Audrey's cancer and the journey they are on with her healing. Maria is still able to express her humor with us in spite of all that she and her family have gone through.

We have had bitter disputes over the election and the state of our country and world. We have discussed ways to survive the economical disasters that have befallen many of us. It is tragic to see how many are still suffering and yet beautiful to see so many sharing with those who are struggling.

There have been dear friends whom have parted ways with AC such as Michy Devon, which I have found to be a deep loss. Many have started writing for other sites as well as still writing for AC. I have started writing for the Examiner after several invitations to do so. My heart is still with AC.

Many of us including myself have experienced the dreaded H1N1 flu and have lamented and shared our misery over it and other illnesses as well. We are nothing if we are not community. Hopefully we will all continue to grow and experience more success here at AC over the next year. I hope we can all remain friends and learn more and make more money too each day. It is great to see those such as Crystal Ray helping newbies. Han Van Meegren and his pv race is a fun and inspiring way to help encourage those of us who want to keep writing and growing along with AC.

Poor Phil Avriel struggled with having his account hacked and we all tried to help him get that horror straightened out. Hopefully because of what he and Nancy Canfield went through maybe it will protect us from having that nightmare happen to us too.

Well dear friends I am sending this special watercolor painting for you that I created just for my friends and family at Christmas. Feel free to print it out. There are no hidden fees or agenda. I just want to share the love that I feel for each and every one of you. God bless you all Shana K. Dines