Dear Reader:

Yesterday heading up Highway 61 towards St. Francis/Roper hospital (for my physical therapy)…the fog was dense… yet eerily beautiful.

I found myself turning off the road to take some pictures of the allure of the woods in the early morning mist. But strangely…as intense as it was in front of me and around me…no photo showed that degree of density of fog.

In the picture above…you only get a slight hint of the haze behind the old house. Without looking through the Iphone camera…I could barely see the house. It was almost invisible from my side of the road.

And then I remembered the “leaf storm” from a few weeks earlier…(on the same road…on the same mission) when once again I pulled over to capture the wonder and excitement of hundreds of leaves falling on my windshield. I must have taken ten or more photos…and I was lucky to have three leaves together when I checked the pictures.

I have thought about it a lot and have decided that certain incidences in our lives can only be lived and felt in that moment. These “snapshots” of the wondrous world we live in are an indivualized gift from God. He loves seeing His children (even the adult ones) squeal in unexpected anticipation and excitement.

There are certain gifts that are timely for certain people and God knows when each of us needs a heavenly surprise. God knows how much I would rather be home than traveling to St. Francis three times a week for therapy… so He has shown me the power of His handiwork.

If He can surprise me with storms of colored leaves and a special quietude of early morning mist in the woods…then surely He is going to stay with me through all the treatments needed to restore my hand and arm.

This past Monday….another magical act appeared….a Christmas Magical Act!

 Every time I walk past this tree (in a bricked-in planter) outside Dr. Silgals’ (my oncologist) office….I stop to admire it. I wish I knew what kind of tree it was…all the leaves are gone now…but the whitish branches (beech? cypress?) always give me a feeling of peace as I enter the glass door.

As I crossed the waiting room to sign in I caught sight of the beautiful Christmas tree standing against the wall. It really is a pretty tree…decorated elegantly…with an adoring-looking angel on top. (which I managed to cut off her head in my photo)

The waiting room was crowded so I settled back in my chair to catch up on some reading. And then my favorite Christmas Grinch burst through the door. Gabriel!

He ran in front of his grandmother to see the tree…he kept holding his arms out wide… like he wanted to embrace the whole tree at one time and announced to all of us in the waiting room…that this is what he wanted for Christmas…this Christmas tree!

Gabriel is an engaging three-year old who is kept by his grandmother… who is a patient. She is also very patient with Gabriel. His hair is always braided perfectly all around his head and his gorgeous dark brown eyes can light up the whole waiting room in seconds.

After talking to him for awhile about different ornaments he liked on the tree…I told him that I saw something magical. His brown eyes got bigger and he asked “What?”… as he kept swirling around looking for the magic.

I had noticed that the reflection of white lights on the Christmas tree was hitting the glass panels…making it appear that the bare tree outside in the planter was covered in white lights. Beautiful!!!

I grabbed my Iphone and took Gabriel by the hand asking him… if he saw the white lights on the tree outside. He looked through the glass panels and nodded vigorously “Yes!”

As I went to see if the reflective lights on the outside tree would appear through the camera…once again…I realized that the camera had picked up the illusion faster than we had. The camera showed no white lights on the tree outside… from inside the waiting room.

So I slowly opened the door and said….“Gabriel… where are the white lights on the tree now?” Gabriel stood in the open doorway staring as hard as he could…and started yelling loudly to his grandmother…”They’re gone…it’s magic!”

And it was. All it took to turn an ordinary day in a waiting room into wonder and surprise was disappearing Christmas lights.

( It was too funny to see strangers putting down their iphones and other gadgets to get up, look out the windows, and shake their heads in amazement too. ) God’s Wink for all of us last Monday!

So until tomorrow…May we all remain child-like each day of the year…open to wonder and surprise from our Creator.

“Today is my favorite day”   Winnie the Pooh

* I have just started decorating for Christmas…Tim came over and added more lights to my porch. I found a most unique wreath at Tractors and Supply…that I love.. (no more sticking more magnolias on a dead wreath Anne…you are off the hook)…this wreath is filled with burlap bows and greenery and red berries. * Big Red is so tall… the top bloom looks like an added bow to the wreath…if angled by the camera correctly.

Lucy has decided she likes the porch lit up so much now…she climbs up on the bench and snuggles in by “Big Red” for all her naps.

Speaking of disappearing….Jake’s hair disappeared at one month and now is slowly returning…. Boo Boo wants him to stay a little tiny baby longer…but none of my grandchildren have listened to me…they just grow and grow…like my garden.

I jotted this little ditty down from a magazine I was reading in the waiting room Monday…so true!

“My want-to’s haven’t been much

My get-it-dones have been small

But my been-givens…Oh My…

they outweigh them all!”      

(Geneva Nelson)

*** THREE, TWO….ONE…COUNT DOWN TO SATURDAY AND HONEY’S CHRISTMAS POTTERY EXTRAVANGA!!! 

Great assortment of handmade gift ideas that stand alone in individualized taste…and the prices can’t be beat!!!!

Where: Mike and Honey Burrell’s home: 111 Ayers Circle-Salisbury Acres

When: This Saturday, December 6  (9-4 PM)