SANTAS AND SACKS

I am often disappointed if someone hasn't updated his blog for a while; yet I can't always seem to get mine done. I love the new sport of "blurfing" which seems to be a constant peek into other people's lives. I'm not sure if we love the peeking because it affirms that our life is just as ordinary and pretty much boring and normal as others, or we like to know that others are just as quirky as we are!! Ah well. It's certainly a timekiller to scroll through blogs.

Christmas is only a few weeks away, and Santa's Workshop is open at our house. Aunt Joan came for a visit, and we both began the frenzy that is preparation for Christmas. We talked about the great pleasure there is in anticipating the reaction of the recipients to a gift that we've made personally for them. I think that, unless you're a crafter or sewer, you don't understand that giving a personally handmade gift for someone is a gift with a double benefit--one for the giver and one for the gifted. We're making something for all of the daughters in our lives, and you can see below a picture of two of them. Sometime after Christmas, I'll show what these pieces of material become!! Joan and I loved the challenge of figuring out the material we'd use, the embellishments and gee gaws to adorn them with, and the delicious hours of putting the gifts together. We talked about the recipients--would they cherish our gifts or would they throw them in a drawer out of sight? It doesn't matter, of course, because the two way benefit is that the gifted knows that you cared enough to make something for them, and the giver has had the challenge of the making!! Aunt Joan tried a few times to capture some of the crazy antics of the squirrels, birds, and guinea hens who chitter, chatter, dash, and careen all over the yard every day. By the time, she could get on her shoes, grab her camera, and sneak out to the yard, the Kodak moment was gone. She missed, though, the Saga of the Sack. A few days earlier, the high winds blew a plastic sack high into the trees, where it snagged on a branch!! Oh well, we thought, another wind gust will blow it out of the tree!! No...no wind strong enough came along to catch that one. One day, we watched a squirrel climb everywhere along the branch, but he didn't dislodge the pesky sack either. Two birds spent a time swooping and diving at the sack, although they never once touched it. So, Dad pulled out a ladder and made a few swipes at it with his hand, a broom, and a rake...again to no avail. Finally, the nuisance sack was dislodged when Dad had to cut off the branch!! It seemed a fitting commentary on life...sometimes it's the little, persistent nuisances that seem to get far more attention than they deserve.

Dad's annual leaf-raking ritual netted 50--yes 50--bags full of leaves!! The stack of bags is taller than he is. One or two more rakings should get the job done.

Here's my latest project. I've played Santa in every other way, why not by answering a Christmas letter? I'll share my answer next blog:

All is well here. Grandma is hanging in there but is pretty much confined to home during the winter months, so give her a call when you can!! Love, Mom

"I've learned.... That no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with."