HERE IS A TEST TO FIND WHETHER YOUR MISSION ON EARTH IS FINISHED - - - IF YOU'RE ALIVE, IT ISN'T.
Richard Bach
Happy Holidays, everyone. I am sure you all have been busy getting ready for Christmas. Thanksgiving blew past us in a hurry, and suddenly December 25th is rushing towards us.
I have found that this is quite a simple time for once. I have almost all of my shopping done, I already cooked a turkey, have it cut up and in the freezer, so with the ham I'll bake on Christmas Eve, that is half the battle. I finally got the tree up and actually put it in a different corner of the family room this year. Since February, we have inherited a Grandfather's clock and a lovely curio cabinet from Little Ma, and with them in the room, it looks a tad crowded but I like it.
Richard Bach
Happy Holidays, everyone. I am sure you all have been busy getting ready for Christmas. Thanksgiving blew past us in a hurry, and suddenly December 25th is rushing towards us.
I have found that this is quite a simple time for once. I have almost all of my shopping done, I already cooked a turkey, have it cut up and in the freezer, so with the ham I'll bake on Christmas Eve, that is half the battle. I finally got the tree up and actually put it in a different corner of the family room this year. Since February, we have inherited a Grandfather's clock and a lovely curio cabinet from Little Ma, and with them in the room, it looks a tad crowded but I like it.
I have been thinking about all the things that I am grateful for. Not material things, people things. I am so thankful to be healthy and robust (uh, that's code for "well-nourished", as my oncologist describes me - drat!) Everyone is doing well and no one has anything major to crab about, so I say "SCORE!"
My girls are doing well and growing up so pretty and smart - - - no brag, jest fact! I don't get to see them very much, but I do enjoy it when they come over. Alec is doing well and participated in a ceiling tile project at his school. The kids each got a big ceiling tile and painted it. The tiles will be installed in all the classrooms. . Al's teacher say she hopes they put his over her table. His was a scene from one of his favorite short films, For The Birds. He did a crazy good job!
Happy to report that sister Judy just published her second children's book "MACTAVISH AND EMMA RUN AWAY". So, good things are happening all around.
I must mention that sister Sandy is quite a writer, too. A while back she gave me a copy of something she had written for a class she had taken, just for fun, It was a lovely story called "THE GIFTING". It was biographical, telling about a widowed black man who had rented a farm near us, way out in the country, in the middle of winter, with his two little boys. He was having a tough time, and Christmas was coming. Mother and Dad had very little themselves, but their hearts went out to those kids, and the folks shifted into high gear. Dad went to the local implement store and got some free toy tractors that had been used as a display and now the paint was chipped and scratched. He brought them home and painted them up nicely. Mother baked and cooked up a storm. On Christmas Eve, Mother asked Sandy to help her take the gifts to the young man's house, but leaving them outside on the porch when they both went in and visited for a while, and then left. Sandy couldn't figure out why they couldn't wait for them to discover the presents and have it known that it was our family who had brought them. Mother told her it was more important to give to someone from your heart and not expect to be thanked. Sandy never forgot that experience and she, herself has been party to being "Secret Santa Sandy" over the years, giving to those in need but keeping it totally secret who was doing the giving. Uh . . . I guess the secret is out now.
But this goes to show you what true "gifting" is. When my parents, who had very little, used their imagination to provide a memorable Christmas for strangers - - - well, that is the true meaning of Christmas.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL
My girls are doing well and growing up so pretty and smart - - - no brag, jest fact! I don't get to see them very much, but I do enjoy it when they come over. Alec is doing well and participated in a ceiling tile project at his school. The kids each got a big ceiling tile and painted it. The tiles will be installed in all the classrooms. . Al's teacher say she hopes they put his over her table. His was a scene from one of his favorite short films, For The Birds. He did a crazy good job!
Happy to report that sister Judy just published her second children's book "MACTAVISH AND EMMA RUN AWAY". So, good things are happening all around.
I must mention that sister Sandy is quite a writer, too. A while back she gave me a copy of something she had written for a class she had taken, just for fun, It was a lovely story called "THE GIFTING". It was biographical, telling about a widowed black man who had rented a farm near us, way out in the country, in the middle of winter, with his two little boys. He was having a tough time, and Christmas was coming. Mother and Dad had very little themselves, but their hearts went out to those kids, and the folks shifted into high gear. Dad went to the local implement store and got some free toy tractors that had been used as a display and now the paint was chipped and scratched. He brought them home and painted them up nicely. Mother baked and cooked up a storm. On Christmas Eve, Mother asked Sandy to help her take the gifts to the young man's house, but leaving them outside on the porch when they both went in and visited for a while, and then left. Sandy couldn't figure out why they couldn't wait for them to discover the presents and have it known that it was our family who had brought them. Mother told her it was more important to give to someone from your heart and not expect to be thanked. Sandy never forgot that experience and she, herself has been party to being "Secret Santa Sandy" over the years, giving to those in need but keeping it totally secret who was doing the giving. Uh . . . I guess the secret is out now.
But this goes to show you what true "gifting" is. When my parents, who had very little, used their imagination to provide a memorable Christmas for strangers - - - well, that is the true meaning of Christmas.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL
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