Kathryn Carole Ellison began writing poetry for her children in the
1970s when they were reaching the "age of reason," and she was leaving
an abusive marriage, becoming a single parent, and setting out on her
own. She wanted to share "life's lessons" and her "words of wisdom" with
them. Poetry was her way to communicate with her pre-teenage children to
help them make good decisions in life, without a barrage of words and
lectures that would fall on deaf ears. And so, the Advent Poems began.
Ellison gave her children one new poem a day during Advent -- the 24
days in December leading up to Christmas. More than 40 years later her
grown children still look forward to each Advent Season, and to
receiving her poems. In total, Ellison has penned more than 1,000
inspirational and wisdom-filled poems for living a more joy-filled life
and overcoming everyday challenges. "Children of the Light" was among
the early poems she wrote and it is included in each of the twelve books
in this collection. After writing hundreds of poems, it is still one of
her favorites. "Light," she explains, represented all that was good and
pure and right with the world, and she believed then -- as she does
today -- that those elements live in her children... and perhaps in all
of us. We need only to dare... and to reach for them. After Ellison's
second husband, Bill Ellison, founder of Value Village/Savers Stores,
died of Alzheimer's Disease in 2008, she decided it was time to share
her poetry with the world. In 2014, at the age of 75, she started a
business and began the journey into the world of publishing, and
fulfilling her life's purpose. Ellison wants to share the message that
it is never too late to pursue one's dreams. She believes the philosophy
that "you can be old at 30, or young at 90" -- that it's all up to us.
And she believes there's no better time than now to share the poems with
the world at large. The present, broken world needs some good
old-fashioned lessons in civility, kindness, and common sense.
