2011 December 21

           Yesterday was my granddaughter Sofia’s birthday, today is my son Adam’s birthday and tomorrow is my sister Maryann’s birthday.  Then the 26^th is Ella’s and my anniversary.  The day after that is my great-granddaughter Charlotte’s birthday and the day after that is my grandson Tate’s birthday.  Isn’t it nice that everyone decorates their homes and business this time of year just to celebrate these special events?

            What?  I missed something?  Oh yeah!  HIS!  With everything else going on it is sometimes easy to miss His birthday.  Happy Birthday, Jesus!

           

            Men’s Bible study this morning finished study on Adam Hamilton’s “Journey” series.  Very informative about the background to the birth story in the gospels.

            Last evening we were Mr. and Mrs. Claus at a daycare in Des Moines.  Then we stopped over at son John’s house for a while.  While we were there I changed out of the red suit.  From there we stopped at Arby’s for supper. 

As we were eating, a father with four young children came in.  They had seen us sitting at the table and were staring with that look of recognition.  I knew that they knew I was Santa even without the suit.  So, I greeted them with a Merry Christmas when they came through the door.  The father silently mouthed, “Thank you” as he shepherded the kids to the order counter.  Before we left, Ella went to the truck and brought in some candy canes.  I took them to their table and gave them to the dad and told the kids that he would decide when they could have them.

On the way home from Arby’s it started misting.  Very lightly.  Almost like a fog settling in.  Since it was already below freezing, I was very careful on the drive home.

After arriving home I was going through Facebook’s suggested friends and found several people that I knew.  So I sent out friend requests.  One of them replied that she saw I had several gigs as Santa.  She teaches girls with emotional problems and wondered if I was available on short notice to deliver gifts to the classroom tomorrow (now today).  I replied that I did have a spot in the schedule where I could do that.  I just needed to know where and when.  Sadly, I never heard back.  I kept checking last night and this morning but did not get a message back.   

Late breaking news:  I got a Facebook message this evening.  Teri had not checked her Facebook to see that I had said I would be available.

 

This morning we awoke to a light blanket of snow on the ground.  The big blizzard that came up through Oklahoma just grazed us.  It stalled out to the southwest and used up almost all of its moisture before getting here.  The sun came up bright this morning and has melted off all the snow that is not in the shadows.  It’s going to be in the forties today, so the snow will be gone before Christmas gets here.  I heard on the news that out of the last ten years we’ve only NOT had snow for Christmas twice.

 We are going to get a visit from our youngest great-granddaughter today.  As a matter of fact, they just pulled into the drive.  So, gotta go for now.

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Okay, great-granddaughter has been here.  Climbed all over me.  Told great-gran’ma Ella to stop taking pictures.  I, however, managed to catch one shot that shows her face.  She is much quicker than the digital camera shutter.  She has gone home again and the dust has settled once more. (grin)

            We made a run to Sam’s club to pick up cookies for church.  Ella needed some more rice for a recipe that she is making.  We had our choices at Sam’s.  We could buy rice in 12 pound or 25 pound bags.  Really?  Okay, I know that they cater to small restaurants etc.   Apparently Ella really wanted rice, ‘cause we now have 12 pounds of it.  Guess what’s for supper?  And breakfast?  And lunch?

            I have a little time before I need to be at church for the Worship Committee meeting.  We are going to put together plates of goodies to deliver to businesses around our church that are open on Christmas morning.  We’re doing it as a way of showing that we appreciate the service they provide throughout the year.  We are calling it a Shepherds' Run after the story in Luke where the shepherds, after visiting the manger, go through the town spreading the good news.