Dear Reader:

Today’s blog post definitely started with a God Wink sense of humor. I subscribe to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary ‘Word of the Day’ website because I love learning new words…it is a hobby of mine… of sorts.

Today when I looked at the word that popped up…it took me a few seconds to realize what the word was…it had been a long time since I had heard “galumph” used in any situation…yet when I read the definition I immediately, not only recognized it, but completely absorbed its meaning on a quite personal level.

Bump, thump, thud. There’s no doubt about it—when someone or something galumphs onto the scene, ears take notice. Galumph first lumbered onto the English scene in 1872 when Lewis Carroll used the word to describe the actions of the vanquisher of the Jabberwock in Through the Looking Glass: “He left it dead, and with its head / He went galumphing back.”

Etymologists suspect Carroll created galumph by altering the word gallop while throwing in a pinch of triumphant for good measure. In other words…a person who was galumphing along conveyed a feeling of triumph or victory…in the sense of “exultant bounding.”

So it appears to me then that Santa must galumph around the Christmas Tree as he leaves presents for all the good boys and girls…bringing them  victory of unbridled triumph in toyland fantasies.

Personally I started out just ‘hop lumbering’ along following the initial surgery on my foot (Mohs surgery) because the pressure and amount of pain in my left foot gave me no other alternative. But since the vac wound machine has been removed (with all its octopus tentacle tubes running up my leg) and new alternative procedures have slowly filled in the wound ..I can honestly say I am galumphing around more and more…feeling closer to the final triumph and victory over this medical “adventure” than ever before.

Maybe, just maybe, I will galumph or “exaltedly bound” out of the Comprehensive Wound Center just in time for Christmas?

The best thing to come from this extended “self-contained environment” I have found myself in, is a new awareness of all the beauty bestowed around me that I never noticed.

Take yesterday for example. It was cold and rainy…a day when my pink robe remained on throughout the day as my closest friend. But then, right in the middle of the afternoon the sun popped out while it was still pouring down.

My golden Bradford Pear’s leaves had started falling due to the rain and windy conditions over the weekend…making the whole ground around the tree looked like it was covered in golden treasures. Absolutely beautiful! What is that line of prose…”Leaves of gold.”

Two of the leaves from the pear tree had blown up on the porch and onto another plant arrangement…adding more color to it.

And what would we do without those beautiful winter Sasanqua Camellias in all their Christmas beauty…they take my breath away.

So until tomorrow…as we grow older we do come to realize that Christmas can be found on any given day throughout the year…we just have to stop, pause, and observe God’s world around us.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*If anybody wants snow…try Mike and Honey’s mountain home on Pinnacle Mountain…when I called Honey last evening…they were measuring 18 inches….the most they have had in quite awhile!

Mandy told me Santa conveniently and unexpectedly showed up at Publix last Saturday in all the rain….which the kids loved of course! *(After studying the picture I think he came in for a coke! I hear he likes them! 🙂 Too cute Jakie and Eva Cate!