(My Sweet Santa Daddy and his Great-Grandchildren)My Christmas Wish For You My Friend |
| My Christmas wish for you, my friend love me later~tj |
Monday, December 24, 2007
My Christmas Wish For You
Sunday, December 23, 2007
It's not "...eight strapping, virile reindeer..." for a reason
If they were male
it would be "...eight strapping, virile reindeer..." or "...eight beer swilling, slovenly reindeer..."
While both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December. Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring.
Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl.
We should've known... ONLY women would be able to drag a fat man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost ... and get the job done right!
Interesting
The German spelling of "Donner and Blitzen" translate as "Thunder and Lightning" in English.
A Visit from Saint Nicholas
IN THE ERNEST HEMINGWAY MANNER
By James Thurber
It was the night before Christmas. The house was very quiet. No creatures were stirring in the house. There weren't even any mice stirring. The stockings had been hung carefully by the chimney. The children hoped that Saint Nicholas would come and fill them.
The children were in their beds. Their beds were in the room next to ours. Mamma and I were in our beds. Mamma wore a kerchief. I had my cap on. I could hear the children moving. We didn't move. We wanted the children to think we were asleep.
"Father," the children said.
There was no answer. He's there, all right, they thought.
"Father," they said, and banged on their beds.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"We have visions of sugarplums," the children said.
"Go to sleep," said mamma.
"We can't sleep," said the children. They stopped talking, but I could hear them moving. They made sounds.
"Can you sleep?" asked the children.
"No," I said.
"You ought to sleep."
"I know. I ought to sleep."
"Can we have some sugarplums?"
"You can't have any sugarplums," said mamma.
"We just asked you."
There was a long silence. I could hear the children moving again.
"Is Saint Nicholas asleep?" asked the children.
"No," mamma said. "Be quiet."
"What the hell would he be asleep tonight for?" I asked.
"He might be," the children said.
"He isn't," I said.
"Let's try to sleep," said mamma.
The house became quiet once more. I could hear the rustling noises the children made when they moved in their beds.
Out on the lawn a clatter arose. I got out of bed and went to the window. I opened the shutters; then I threw up the sash. The moon shone on the snow. The moon gave the lustre of mid-day to objects in the snow. There was a miniature sleigh in the snow, and eight tiny reindeer. A little man was driving them. He was lively and quick. He whistled and shouted at the reindeer and called them by their names. Their names were Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, and Blitzen.
He told them to dash away to the top of the porch, and then he told them to dash away to the top of the wall. They did. The sleigh was full of toys.
"Who is it?" mamma asked.
"Some guy," I said. "A little guy."
I pulled my head in out of the window and listened. I heard the reindeer on the roof. I could hear their hoofs pawing and prancing on the roof.
"Shut the window," said mamma.
I stood still and listened.
"What do you hear?"
"Reindeer," I said. I shut the window and walked about. It was cold. Mamma sat up in the bed and looked at me.
"How would they get on the roof?" mamma asked.
"They fly."
"Get into bed. You'll catch cold."
Mamma lay down in bed. I didn't get into bed. I kept walking around.
"What do you mean, they fly?" asked mamma.
"Just fly is all."
Mamma turned away toward the wall. She didn't say anything.
I went out into the room where the chimney was. The little man came down the chimney and stepped into the room. He was dressed all in fur. His clothes were covered with ashes and soot from the chimney. On his back was a pack like a peddler's pack. There were toys in it. His cheeks and nose were red and he had dimples. His eyes twinkled. His mouth was little, like a bow, and his beard was very white. Between his teeth was a stumpy pipe. The smoke from the pipe encircled his head in a wreath. He laughed and his belly shook. It shook like a bowl of red jelly. I laughed. He winked his eye, then he gave a twist to his head. He didn't say anything.
He turned to the chimney and filled the stockings and turned away from the chimney. Laying his finger aside his nose, he gave a nod. Then he went up the chimney. I went to the chimney and looked up. I saw him get into his sleigh. He whistled at his team and the team flew away. The team flew as lightly as thistledown. The driver called out, "Merry Christmas and good night." I went back to bed.
"What was it?" asked mamma. "Saint Nicholas?" She smiled.
"Yeah," I said.
She sighed and turned in the bed.
"I saw him," I said.
"Sure."
"I did see him."
"Sure you saw him." She turned farther toward the wall.
"Father," said the children.
"There you go," mamma said. "You and your flying reindeer."
"Go to sleep," I said.
"Can we see Saint Nicholas when he comes?" the children asked.
"You got to be asleep," I said. "You got to be asleep when he comes. You can't see him unless you're unconscious."
"Father knows," mamma said.
I pulled the covers over my mouth. It was warm under the covers. As I went to sleep I wondered if mamma was right.
Gotta Love Hemingway!
and I am smiling ...
love me later~tj
Friday, December 21, 2007
I had a horrible, terrible, awful, very bad, no good day.
But ...
I woke up to a bill collector calling me. "Yes, I know it’s past due, yes I plan on paying it, no I can’t pay the whole thing, Yes I will be there today." I didn’t have enough money. I know we’ve all been there, done that. There are reasons, but it all boils down to the fact that I am a nice person that I have short changed my bill money.
So I am embarrassed, I work very hard long hours every week to take care of myself. I do a fine job usually. I humbly go to the teller and offer my meager money to spread over my bills. Now I just need to find $475.00 stuck in a pocket somewhere to cover the rest that I promised them before the end of the month. I’m totally frustrated, mad, angry, crying, embarrassed and not knowing where I’m getting the money from ...
So ...
I am driving away from the bank and I asked God to help me out of this pickle I done got myself into doing what the good book says to do. I forgot to look out for myself I told him, and that’s the truth.
Well, I was fumbling around in my purse for my ringing telephone and I happened across a lottery ticket I had forgotten to scratch off. Wouldn’t you know that God has a sense of humor? I won $36.00. I told Him that was very funny and I reminded Him of the figure I needed, like He didn’t already know ...
Then ...
I went on to work (my little part time job) and my boss asks me what the hell is the matter with me. "You look like hell!" I guess this was the wrong (or right) thing to say to me because I unloaded it all on him. How I wound up in the predicament I found myself in today. The bank lady, the promise, all of it. All of it except for the amount of money I needed. Bless his heart, he listened to all of it. He told me then that he never paid me for a job I did back in August for him. He was right about that. He didn’t. We had both forgotten until right then. It was $175.00 that he owed me. He also paid me for the week, which was a slow week, but it came to $150.00.
Okay so ...
On my way home I stopped by the party store to cash in the lottery ticket and as I was pulling it out of my wallet, I see a check my mother had written me for $70.00 that I never cashed. I’m exhausted from the emotional turmoil I have put myself through today, and the day ain’t over yet. I don’t add up the money. I go by the bank to deposit the uncashed mother check and I run into my neighbor who says, "Hey Tammy, I was just coming over to your house. I have the money for you." Money? I’m thinking.... "The $45.00 you loaned me. I told you I’d pay it back on payday, well it’s payday." I thank him and stuff it into my purse.
Coffee and Motrin and ....
I calculate the money. $36.00 + $175.00 + $150.00 + $70.00 + $45.00 = $476.00
I’ll be back at the bank tomorrow morning, to pay my bills in full.
Who said God doesn’t listen?
Do you think I might be pushing my luck if I take the $1.00 and buy a lottery ticket?
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
The Christmas Rock - A re-post Worthy of a re-read.
Truly Appreciating Festivities
I was so excited. My daughter was coming to spend a week for the holidays! With her were her husband and her son. My fiancé and I took the trip up north 5 hours away to get them and bring them home for the holidays. Oh, my word this is what I have needed to make my holidays perfect! We traveled in his truck. The back seat would be a tight fit for the kids, but we would manage. We set off a little later than I had hoped. I had a few last minute details I needed to attend to. So after the bows were placed just so, and the floors vacuumed extra well, the cookies put out on the table, off we go. I'm a notorious car sleeper, so I packed my blankets and my music and Wally took off. I couldn't stand it. Every 45 minutes or so my sweet daughter would call asking, "Where are you now? Drive FASTER!" I understood her sentiment perfectly! How I wanted, needed, yearned to be there with her. We got there without much toodo. It was perfect driving weather, clear and dry, not too much traffic. We got there and she ran to me and I swung her up and held her tight. We laughed through our tears of joy and love. Three months was a long time to be apart. We sat and talked for a bit with her in-laws while the menfolk loaded up the truck. We were off again in the twilight of the evening. We stopped on the way home frequently, the baby wasn't feeling good. He had a cold so we stopped for decongestant. The kids were hungry so we stopped for a late dinner. The baby being in the car we stopped once or twice for a smake and diaper change. We laughed and talked and laughed some more. The time was flying by even with all the stopping, I felt joy and peace and so damned happy.
That is until 12:30 that night. We had just junctioned onto I-69 off I-96 a bit north of Lansing and still over an hour away from home. I was talking with her husband. I was leaning toward the middle of the seat with my head between the seats. My back was to the window. Her hubby was leaning toward the middle with his head stuck between the seats talking with me. Out of nowhere my daughter let out a blood curdling scream and throws herself over the baby. In slow motion in my head, but a nanosecond in real time, I reached toward my daughter then turned toward the window. Glass was flying inward, ricocheting and bouncing off everything. The noise was horrendous. The wind and glass was spraying everywhere. Wally was calm and sure as he pulled the truck off the freeway. We took stock of each other. Wally ran around the truck and grabbed me and turned me toward hin, "Are you okay? Dear God, are you okay?" Were we all okay? What in the world happened? Oh my word, what is happening?
I grabbed the cell phone and dialed 911. I was trembling, the woman heard me asking, shouting, if the baby was okay. The words wouldn't come. .. . "I don't know what happened. No, I don’t know where we are. .. . Send the police, I think someone shot at the truck . .. . No I'm not sure. .. ." Wally took the phone from me, I was trembling to hard to talk. I wanted to see my daughter and the baby. I knew her husband was okay, he had jogged up the side of the freeway to see the mile marker. He couldn't find it. He came back to the truck and then ran off again, back the way we had came. Wally talked with the 911 operator. I started wiping glass out of the truck seats, but had no luck without gloves. My daughter wanted her husband to come back. He wasn't gone long. He wanted to see the sign on the overpass we had just gone under, so we could tell the police exactly where we were. It wasn't marked. What he did see brought on the tears that hadn't come. He saw 2 boys, almost grown huddling under the viaduct. Then he saw the rock in the road. He gave chase for a moment and thought better of it. If these people would throw a rock at us moving 75 miles an hour in the pitch of night, what would they do to him if he caught him? These two had come down from the overpass to huddle together and watch the mayhem they had created. To see if the moving target they hit carried a bloody massacre with it. He came back and as he got closer we saw he was carrying an objet. It took both hands to hold it. It was the rock.
We calmed down as we waited for the police to appear. Wally cleared out the truck of glass, he had found some gloves in the truck. We discussed the situation. Someone had aimed a rock, thrown it and damn the consequences on the target. Unbelievable as it was, it happened there on the freeway to us. We hugged each other and kept patting the baby who only cried once when his momma screamed. We closed my blanket into the door to stave off the wind as best we could from the baby, and 50 minutes after it happened got back on the road. The police never showed up.
We stopped at the next rest area to change the baby's clothes. There were shards of glass all over his clothes. We adults took off our clothes and shook them off. I emptied my shoes and watched glass fall out, hearing it ping on the tile floor. We got back in the truck after hugging each other once more and drove the rest of the way home.
The rock had first hit the mirror on the truck, shattering it. Then it bounced up onto the window , exploding it as well. Three inches to the right and it would have come through the windshield. We got the window replaced Monday morning.
Late at night, I close my eyes and I see the mayhem that could have occurred. I open my heart and I see the hand of God reaching out and swatting a rock out of the path of destruction, leaving just enough chaos for us to realize the love we have. For the love of God we are safe at home enjoying the holiday festivities and truly giving worship to the Lord Christ's birth.
The rock sits under our Christmas tree.
It is a very Merry Christmas.
And I am smiling.....
love me later...tj
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Just A Week ...
Beautiful Fun
I’ve had a beautifully fun, busy last couple days. I had my grandchildren over for the weekend and I taught my Booger the finesse of frosting a cookie. We also happened to have more snow this weekend than we have had in one day in a long time. So I bundled Boog up (reminiscence of ‘A Christmas Story’) and took him sledding in a make-shift bucket-sled. He had a ball! 20 minutes bundling him, 10 minutes unbundling him for a grand total of 12 minutes outside! Well worth it to hear his, "More! More! More!" Baby Tink has pneumonia and RSV. She was scary ill for awhile, and her nebulizer and medicine schedule kept me busy. She’s doing much better, and the doctor cleared her as well on Monday.
I don’t remember how I did it, when my kids were small, I worked full time, had both of them bathed and ready for the day by 7:00 am, I went to college in the evenings and had time to play with my kids and give them memories to boot. I had these two small children and when Sunday came, I felt like I was done runned over by a big ol’ truck! I’m glad school was cancelled on Monday, I needed the day to recover!
Decorating Cookies?
Bundled
(Ralphie's little brother Randy?)
Bucket-Sled (My Newest Invention!)
Sweet Baby Tink
Well, Monday came and my boss calls me at 7:30 asking me if school is out. "Yup". He sounds desperate and asks me to come help him. He started a snow plowing business and needs help keeping appointments straight and customers happy and just bringing a calm to a hectic day. (New Business + Biggest Snow In This Decade = CHAOS) I went over and did what I could. I stayed till 6:30 and accomplished a bit for him. I came home and fell out in the bed.
I woke up this morning with a sore throat, coughing, sounding like a Froggy from the ‘Little Rascals’. I went to work and came home to ship out 5 packages for eBay, wrap 35 gifts for work, make up 36 children’s gifts, and put a photo collage together. I’m ready for Motrin and Chicken Soup. I feel so yucky.
Tomorrow I take my babies at school to the Old Folks Home to sing for the old grandmas and grandpas. It’s my favorite field trip of the year. (If you haven’t yet, read my blog I titled Harvesting...Love) There is a special magic that happens when mixing babies and old folks. I’m more than a little pissed off at the weatherman right now though. He claims we are going to have freezing rain in the wee hours tonight and into the morning, along with fog. Not on my favorite day of the year! Please Mr. Weatherman not tomorrow!
Then comes Thursday, my last day in the classroom this year! In the middle of glue, and paint, markers and glitter, flour, sugar, chocolates and peanut butter, Christmas Trees and Christmas Carols, we have had a Christmas BLAST these last couple weeks. The kids will get their gifts, eat all the treats we have been making, read the books we wrote about Christmas and I will happily send them out the door for 2 glorious weeks! (Oh My Word, do I see Christmas in my classroom? Shame on me!)
I hope your week is going as well as mine!
and I am smiling...
love me later~tj
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Writer's Block Challenge #26 '...and it came true.'
I wish to stand on a sandy beach. Feel the wet sand push between my toes. Hold bread that I tear in pieces, raise it aloft as the seagulls swoop ever closer finding the nerve to take it from my hand. Listen to the rhythmic water’s lapping at the shore. Scour the beach for perfect black mussel backs.
I wished, and it came true.
I
wish to lean into a curve at 65 miles an hour feel the wind rush by, arms wide as I close my eyes and fly around the curves. Sunshine beats down to make my scalp hot while the breeze of moving cools me. My hair dances and twirls behind me and I hang on tight as I round yet another curve. I giggle and my smile stretches wide.I wished, and it came true.
I
wish to sit at the table with you, look in your sweet face and talk of memories of our lives, how they intertwine to this day. I pour more coffee as we laugh and giggle like schoolgirls finding the purest sweetest love in one another. Our faces change over the years, the wrinkles come, the hair turns gray, the eyes grow wise, and still we laugh. A lifetime of talking, laughing loving, friendship.I wished, and it came true.
I
wish to sit on a bench surrounded by wild flowers. The sun peeks through the green leaves on the branches hang low and the summers breeze billows about me. A thousand and one butterflies hover near, lighting on my hand, my shoulder, my toes. The comforting silence of being there awakens a new hope in my spirit.I wished, and it came true.
S
omewhere, where wishes grow in fields of dreams, I have a "wishflower" growing. Every so often, a sage ladybird lights on it, throwing my wishes to the wind. Some get scattered and tattered and lost, but every now and then, when I really need it, a wish takes root and grows into reality.
"...and it came true."
tjs© December 4, 2007
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