Merry Christmas to you all...
I found myself singing aloud to this when I was in JCPenny's picking up "socks" for the stockings yesterday...
">All I Want...
Also wanted to share this Christmas story my mom sent me.
Christmas Adventure with Grandma
>>
>> I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I
>> remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big
>> sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even
>> dummies know that!"
>>
>> My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day
>> because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told
>> the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier
>> when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they
>> were world-famous, because Grandma said so.
>>
>> It had to be true.
>>
>> Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her
>> everything.
>>
>> She was ready for me.
>>
>> "No Santa Claus?" She snorted... "Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That
>> rumor
>> has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now,
>> put
>> on your coat, and let's go."
>>
>> "Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second
>> world-famous cinnamon bun.
>>
>> "Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town
>> that
>> had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its
>> doors,
>> Grandma handed me ten dollars.
>>
>> That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy
>> something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car. "Then
>> she
>> turned and walked out of Kerby's.
>>
>> I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but
>> never had I shopped for anything all by myself.
>>
>> The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish
>> their
>> Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused,
>> clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth
>> to
>> buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my
>> neighbors, the kids at school, and the people who went to my church.
>>
>> I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He
>> was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in
>> Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class.
>>
>> Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to
>> recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the
>> teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker
>> didn't
>> have a cough; he didn't have a good coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill
>> with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!
>>
>> I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real
>> warm,
>> and he would like that.
>>
>> "Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter
>> asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down.
>>
>> "Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."
>>
>> The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a
>> good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag,
>> smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.
>>
>> That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of
>> the
>> coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons
>> and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it. Grandma said that Santa
>> always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's
>> house,
>> explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of
>> Santa's
>> helpers.
>>
>> Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept
>> noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk.
>>
>> Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered,
>> "get going." I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the
>> present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of
>> the bushes and Grandma.
>>
>> Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to
>> open.
>> Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.
>>
>> Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering,
>> beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes.
>>
>> That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were
>> just
>> what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we
>> were on his team. I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked
>> inside:
>> $19.95.
>>
>> May you always have LOVE to share, HEALTH to spare and FRIENDS that
>> care...
>> And may you always believe in the magic of Santa Claus!
BIG THINGS TO COME THIS WEEK... FAVORITE PHOTOS FROM 2007... AND A CONTEST...
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
