Look What Santa Gave Me

When I was five years old, I awoke on Christmas Day feeling a little strange.  My tummy felt bumpy on the outside.  I lifted my nighty and glanced down at my bare tummy and saw red spots and bumps there.  I climbed out of my cute little antique bed and went to the top of the stairs and called for my mother.  She came and I hauled up my nighty and said, “Look what Santa gave me!”

Mother came up the stairs for a closer look and because she was never one to get in a tizzy, calmly told me to go and get back in bed and stay warm.  She promised she would come up and check on me in a few minutes. 

The next thing I realized was that those red spots on my tummy meant that all our beautiful Christmas plans would be thrown asunder and I and Mommy would not be allowed to go to see all our cousins on the big hill.  There would be no turkey dinner and stuffing for us.  No, because little Alison had the chicken pox. 

In my mind’s eye, I can see myself bundled in a big blanket and sitting in the big rocking chair, watching everyone unwrap their presents.  I unwrapped a large paper doll. It was so big it could stand by itself.  I remember wishing I could get down and play with it.  The rest of the family left to go to our Aunt and Uncle’s house and Mom and I stayed home.  Mother read to me some and I had to go and get back in bed.  It was a sad day for both of us.  Eventually I recovered but I never forgot the Christmas that Santa gave me chicken pox.

The Laughter of my Children

The last couple of days have been sweet.  Sweet are the sounds that our children bring to our home.  I enjoy hearing them tell stories of their lives in their respective places…things people have said or done to them, sometimes the words they have heard were hurtful and their actions misunderstood, but it still is a joy to hear them talk.  My husband and I look at each other and know they are balanced in their lives and we had something to do with that and we are grateful. The Lord certainly gave us the wisdom we needed to help them achieve the right balance in their lives.

I love to hear them laugh.  We love to laugh in our home.  Brother and sister tease each other and laugh over things that happened to each other.  Remember whens are common and the laughter continues. Watching a funny movie together and laughing at all the same funny parts…right, we are family and our sense of humours click. It’s a great warm blanket that surrounds you. We have many “sayings” that we have coined over the years and when someone quotes one…we get it. It is so simple.  So warm and cozy.  These days together are few but precious.  I have to go…don’t want to miss a moment.

Lost and Found Revisited…

Yesterday I reached into my winter coat pockets and thought I would be grabbing my black leather lined gloves and my hands came up empty. Immediately I knew I had lost them and that is was very familiar to another time in my history when I lost the leather gloves my good friend gave me in Bible College. I had had those particular pair for over 20 years and so it was a terrible day when I discovered I had misplaced them.  I knew when it was.  Sometime around 2000, I took my daughter to a symphony concert in Vancouver. That in itself was a feat for me to actually drive downtown and find a parking spot.  When I started driving I had my gloves on and as the van warmed up I took off my gloves and laid them in my lap. When I exited the van in the parking lot, my lap gloves slid off onto the ground and were lost to me.

The last time I had my gloves on was in the car after picking up Micah at the airport on Tuesday night.  The waiting area in the airport was chilly because the big doors are always opening and closing so I was fully clothed and in my right mind as I waited.  In the car I took off my gloves and they were once again in my lap.  So I figured out that they were probably in the snow in our driveway.  Lonnie took the broom out and did a sweep and found them in the first swipe.  I was so pleased.  So it was a happy ending this time as I recovered them. But there is another positive outcome.  I opened the little box in which there lay a pair of unlined leather driving gloves and used them when I went for groceries.  They are perfect for shopping and are pretty cool looking.  I left them on and protected my hands from copious germs on the shopping cart.  So it was a plus for me that outweighed the negative.  A happy ending to this lost and found.