A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

The poems in this book were written over many years as gifts to my children. I began writing them in the 1970s, when they were reaching the age of reason. And, as I found myself in the position of becoming a single parent. I wanted to do something special to share with them-something that would become a tradition, a ritual they could count on.

And so the Advent Poems began-one day. decades ago-with a poem gifted to them each day during the Advent period leading up to Christmas, December 1 to December 24.

Forty some years later. my children still look forward each year to the poems that started a family tradition, that new generations have come to cherish.

It is my sincere hope that you will embrace and enjoy them, and share them with those you love.

Children of the Light was among the early poems I wrote, and is included in each of the Poems of Life and Love books in The Ellison Collection: Heartstrings, Celebrations, Inspirations, Sanctuary. Awakenings, Sojourns. Milestones. Tapestry.

Gratitude, Beginnings. Horizons and Moments. After writing many hundreds of poems, it is still my favorite. The words came from my heart... and my soul.. and flowed so effortlessly that it was written in a single sitting.

All I needed to do was capture the words on paper.

Light. to me, represented all that was good and pure and right with the world, and I believed then-as I do today-that those elements live in my children, and perhaps in all of us.

We need only to dare.