Dear Reader:

A frosty morning might be as close as we will ever get to a “White Christmas” but it sure is pretty. The low’s Saturday night dipped down into the high 20’s….I covered up “Big Red” and prayed hard it would do the job. It did! The cloudy rainy days were gone and Sunday morning shone cold but bright with the sun’s first rays hitting the porch.

When I took the table cloth off…”Big Red” was still smiling with all its blooms intact…I hope it can hang into there a few more nights until the temps level off again to more seasonal temperatures. (Too big to get in the door.)

Yesterday was my Pre-Christmas “Ho Ho Ho” day. For the first time in my life I actually ordered some Christmas items after Christmas, last year, when all the merchandise was at its lowest and then even more miraculously I found it all while cleaning out all the drawers last summer and fall! (My reward for cleaning!)

So I bagged up ornaments for each of the children’s families…personalized Christmas plaques, Christmas bubble night lights…I took tins of those wonderful World Market Swedish Ginger Biscuits or simply as we like to call them here…Ginger Snaps! I can eat them like potato chips! I like getting Christmas -related gifts to friends and family before Christmas so they can enjoy them.

I climbed in my “Green Vue Sleigh” after church/lunch and talked to all the “reindeer power” in the car to get me safely to all the homes in Mt. Pleasant and back home again.No problems!

I first went to Tommy and Kaitlyn’s house….Kaitlyn took some pictures of the gifts after I left…Her and Tommy’s first Mr. and Mrs. Christmas ornament. I love Kaitlyn’s natural wreaths…she makes so many pretty bows.

Then it was over to John and Mandy’s house…Jakie was taking his nap so I dropped off the gifts including the Christmas bubble nightlights for the children (and one for Tommy and Kaitlyn too.)

I asked Eva Cate if she would like to be my elf and go with me to her cousins’ house to help give them their gifts. She enthusiastically agreed and we were off. (Is that lipstick on her palms…where was my pocketbook in the car? Hummmm?) A sly elf I believe.

Everything was decorated for Christmas at the next Dingles’ new home…Walsh and Mollie. Mollie was making some m&m cookies so I told Eva Cate we could stay until they were done and she could get one for her “elf help.” Mollie had an elf helper too.

Uncle Walsh started a tall tale about a strange clown living in the attic…(The children had shown Eva Cate a secret door in (soon-to-be Eloise’s room…looks like a fairy door leading to the attic. ) Eva Cate and Lachlan just giggled and laughed but Rutledge took the story seriously and didn’t appear to be too happy about a deranged clown in his attic…it took a little cousin team wrestling to move on past the “clown.” (Walsh has always been our family clown…since he was a baby!)

It was a wonderful day…a taste of the feeling Santa Claus must get on Christmas Eve in every house around the world. There is a reason why traditions begin…to bring family together and hopefully over the years it is something the grandchildren will look forward to…Boo Boo bringing a Christmas ornament for the family’s tree in each home (and a Christmas bubble nightlight)…one ornament that matches the interests of each grandchild at the age he/she is that particular Christmas.

This year it was a little truck for Jakie, a globe for Eva Cate, an elephant for Rutledge, another truck for Lachlan and a pickle for both brothers who can eat pickles out of a jar until they are all gone. (Maybe I ought to try it…Could it pickle me and keep me from aging as I grow older…hummm?)

To me annual traditions are the best way to bring Jesus back into the season…no matter how silly…even a “fake” snowball fight can remind one and all of the years past when families stopped the mundane business of life and became children again in the eyes of God and in the surprised and appreciative eyes of their own children. Generation after generation.

So until tomorrow…Quinn Caldwell prays:

God, grant that the rituals and the songs and the traditions of this season might become for us passageways that lead  right back into your heart. Amen.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh