A little MS holiday card for you
Merry Christmas!
Blessed Hanukkah!
Joyous Kwanzaa!
And a most Happy 2026 to all of you!!!
As happens far too often, like every year, the holidays have snuck up on me yet again. I am so very thankful to all of you, my readers and appreciate you immensely. I am sorry that I do not have a new MS humor blog to share with you this year but I am thinking of all you.
Since I am not able to send each and every one of you a card or a holiday letter, I am posting an old blog that has become quite popular.
That didn’t seem enough, so I also wanted to share this very short, happy but only a little funny, story of something that happened to me as I began Advent, the celebration that welcomes Christmas for me and many others. I don’t think you need to celebrate the Christian version of the holidays to appreciate it.
Read on for the story and then the former blog, the 12 Days of Christmas, MS Style.
Whatever you are celebrating right now, I wish you the very best.
Be the light you want to see in our world.
An Advent Story
This year there seems to be a lot of division, sadness and economic woes in our world. I figured my best defense to get all possible beauty out of the holiday season was to totally, truly, wholly (or holy) commit to the reason for the season. This Christmas, I vowed, beyond the gifts given and received, the shopping, the sweet treats, and the chaos, the birth of Jesus and the individual spiritual preparation for his return would be my focus. This should be the case every year and I try. But in 2025, I wanted to be consumed by this focus, first and foremost.
I started my plan by attending Mass for the first Sunday of Advent at my local church. Just before the Mass started, a family of four came and sat in the pew directly in front of me. A dad holding a baby girl about six months old and a mom with a two-year-old son settled themselves for the next hour or so. The children were good and it was hard not to notice them. They both stayed quiet as they looked around, observing their vibrant surroundings.
The deacon was in the middle of his homily and was sharing with the parishioners how to make the most of this Advent season in ways both large and small. He said that even something as simple as introducing yourself to neighbors you haven’t met yet could be a beautiful benefit to you both. In the seconds that he finished that sentence but before he had time to begin his next one, the baby in front of me began to babble. Loudly. And with a huge smile on her face. The whole church could clearly hear her, and the timing was so spot on, it HAD to be divine. So perfect. Even the deacon himself thought so. While everyone smiled and outright laughed, he said, “well it seems like someone is already taking my advice!”
It was a moment we all shared, driven by one child who had no idea the impact she was making for everyone at that precious moment.
The candle lit for the first week of Advent is for hope and this scene did fuel hope. The sound of this one child brought hope in the memory of another child born on a cold, lonely night, 2000 plus years ago. But it also echoed the candle lit for the third week of Advent, the one for joy, joy in a struggling world. For while it was a silly moment, it was a major moment. It was a moment I cling to when I falter in my 2025 Christmas commitment, become annoyed when things don’t go right or when the news of the world is completely overwhelming me and bringing me down. The timing of a baby babbling is exactly what the deacon was talking about in his homily. This small incident did bring hope and spread lasting, much needed joy…It was a beautiful benefit.
And now, the blog……
12 Days of Christmas, MS Style
A multiple sclerosis Christmas carol
I love Christmas.
I love Christmas songs.
But personally, I don’t love the 12 Days of Christmas carol. I find it obnoxious. Recently however, I learned that it was actually an important and secret song.
Folklore has it, that this carol was written in the late 1700’s in England as a code to help children study their catechism as Christianity was forbidden at the time. A partridge in a pear tree represents Jesus Christ, two calling birds represent the apostles Peter and Paul, three French hens represent the Holy Trinity, etc.
Weird, as my grandmothers always taught me that the Holy Trinity was Portuguese not French, but what can you do?
As a devout Catholic who totally gets the reason for the season, I feel bad calling the song obnoxious when is seems like it should be something to be appreciated, even just slightly.
Kind of like how there was a brief time when I actually appreciated multiple sclerosis. And by brief I mean minutes, no, actually seconds.
This was when I received my diagnosis after I had diagnosed myself via the internet as having either early onset Alzheimer’s disease or acute and untreatable insanity. MS was actually a relief at that moment.
Now it is just absolutely obnoxious and that is on one of its very rare good days.
Since I am in the Christmas spirit all year long (but now that it IS Christmas, it is ok to be in the Christmas spirit) I thought I would combine the two.
So here friends, is a multiple sclerosis Christmas carol, obnoxiousness and all.
On the first day of Christmas MS brought to me: one ach-y bod-y
On the second day of Christmas MS brought to me: fingers all tingly
On the third day of Christmas MS brought to me: three MS hugs
On the fourth day of Christmas MS brought to me: lots of blurry vision
On the fifth day of Christmas MS brought to me: brain completely spacey…..
On the sixth day of Christmas MS brought to me: every day so sleepy
On the seventh day of Christmas MS brought to me: feeling kind of dizzy
On the eight day of Christmas MS brought to me: bladder very leaky
On the ninth day of Christmas MS brought to me: four shots so nasty
On the tenth day of Christmas MS brought to me: head feeling crappy
On the eleventh day of Christmas MS brought to me: legs acting lazy
On the twelfth day of Christmas MS brought to me: balance not so steady-
legs acting lazy, head feeling crappy, four shots so nasty, bladder very leaky, feeling kind of dizzy, every day so sleepy, brain completely spacey, lots of blurry vision, three MS hugs, fingers all tingly, and one, ach-y bod-y…..
Let’s sing it together, shall we?
NOT!
Ahhh friends, a very healthy and Merry Christmas to you all.
And for my non- Christian friends, may you have a healthy and happy season of all things good and not MS related!
*******Note*******
I wrote this particular blog over the weekend of 12/13/13-12/15/13- I swear I did. On 12/18/13 a friend and fellow MS’er posted on Facebook something similar that was attributed to the Must Stop MS Support Group.
I am very, very sure I didn’t copy them but it is possible that in years past I got this idea (the 12 Days of Christmas MS version) from somewhere else and just don’t remember it.
I would like to think instead, however, that great minds think alike!
If that doesn’t work, I will blame using an idea used before on MS.
Yea, that’s it. If I subconsciously stole this idea it is all MS’s fault!
Source: yvonnedesousa.com