Dear Reader:

“Happy Days are here again…my gloves and sleeve… just got in….Let us shout for joy from our “within”…Happy Days are here again.”

“All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth so I can wish you Merry Christmas” is the lament of first and second graders around the world. But, as for me, all I wanted was my hand and arm back for Christmas…and it happened! A Christmas “miracle.”

I had about given up hope of getting these “swaddled” wrappings off my hand and arm before Christmas… because I only had this week to get it in and practice pulling the glove and sleeve on.

But Karen (remember the special earth angel “wings” lady) called and the box had just arrived yesterday morning. She said she would run it over right to the “Healing Boutique” so I could pick it up before my 11:00 appointment.

Chrissie, my physical therapist, and myself have been fighting a cold for over a week now…just the “hacky” cough kind that wears you down after awhile…we tease each other that it must have been the other one who started it…back and forth.

 Mine took a turn Sunday evening for the worst…it settled in around my vocal chords and now I am a semi-mute. (I am sure some people are probably secretly thinking…”I owe you one God.”)

The downward “turn” with my cold and now laryngitis was due to the long wait for Santa Claus to arrive on the largest fire truck of all…with horns blowing and red lights flashing. As he yelled “Ho Ho Ho“…I yelled nothing (because I couldn’t) and was thinking “No No No”…my voice was gone.

Like the “Jefferson’s, however, I am moving on up“…going from this to this. A lot less bulky and tight…can finally wrap presents again…HUMMM…(this is one of my least favorite things to do) maybe ‘happy days’ was an excuse not to have to do it.

I still hear the old adage occasionally: “It fits like a glove.” One probably hears it, more often spoken, in a dressing room area….especially a bridal wedding dress party. “Oh darling,” gushes the mother…”It fits you like a glove.”

(And if it doesn’t, such as in the case of O. J. Simpson…one can go free…to get in more trouble.)

Apparently the origin of the expression “It fits like a glove”- refers back to the time of dress etiquette for riding horses…and riding gloves were a “must.” The novice rider was always warned to buy tight fitting gloves….because if you lose control of your horse, by your gloves pulling off, it is most likely you, yourself, will end up in quagmire…metaphorically and literally.

When it comes to Christmas… doesn’t the same thought apply? We need to make sure that that our budgetary and time savings techniques “fit us like a glove.” (If not, we too, will end up in the heavy, credit card, interest debt “quagmire” come January, February, March, April, May (you get the picture…forever.)

If we work on eliminating our “Holiday Monsters” one monster at a time -like credit card debt-eventually our priorities will align with the stars and the true meaning of Christmas (treating other with kindness) will fit snugly…just like a glove..and once again we will enjoy the holidays minus a “melt-down.”

So until tomorrow…Let the magic of Christmas lift our spirits, fitting us like a glove, keeping, not only our hands, but heart warm throughout the season.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh