Christmas Gifts

Merry, Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a great time with family and friends.

I have to wonder--have you ever bought someone a present--but it wasn't what you thought you bought? Or did you ever give a child money only to learn you didn't put in the right amount?

Why do I ask? Because we sent our English cousins what looked like a nice small green plant. But they got a ficus tree instead!

Then when a child I gave a gift of money opened his card--I had only put in half of what I thought I did! He said he got $10 and I said, oh no, I gave you $20. He was right--I was wrong!

Once upon a time when I was much younger and could be called Mother Earth, I used to bake and bake and bake. But this year it's been condense to one or two cookies types and three different rolls, poppyseed, nut and cinnamin.

Speaking of rolls, have you ever had your dinner rolls turn out like hockey pucks? Mine did last night! We had company for dinner. My husband tried using his new smoker. The chickens didn't get completely cooked. Good thing we also had ribs! He cooked them on the grill. The potato salad and cauliflower turned out okay, but those hockey pucks! I threw them out.

My friend asked if my water I put into the yeast was too hot. I said it could've been. Guess what? That was it. I got up this morning and made another batch--wanted to make sure when I made them again on Christmas they were disasterous again--like bad yeast or flour. But no, it was just stupidity on my part!

Our family keeps growing--now we have 8 grandchildren! But what would Christmas be without little ones and Santa Clause?

Well, naturally there's the true meaning of Christmas and we don't forget that. I mean, I went to one grandson's Christmas pageant the other night. I swear, it was probably the worst pageant I've ever seen. It was held at a church and the songs were yukky--except for when they sang a few Christmas Carols. The script left a lot to be desired, too. And the singing--Lord help them. Surely out of 200 kids and those adults they could've found someone with a good voice?

Then the pastor declared that children are a gift from God. I don't dispute that. But he went on and on about the sinful parents blah, blah. He sounded like Jimmy Baker. I expected Tammy Faye to come strolling out any minute with her dangling earrings and tons of makeup.

Finally he finished. Then we were asked to dig deep into our pockets for money for the music department. My husband leaned over and said, "Oh they sure could use it!"

Truely, I've been to hundreds of pageants and you know, generally when kids are involved these things are cute. You sit and smile and think, aren't they adorable? Not this time! So you're probably thinking, so write one yourself or shut up.

Okay. I'm shutting up!

My oldest granddaughter took a fall on her bike the other day and is in pain. Here's hoping she'll feel better by Christmas Day.

So to each of you, again, I say have a very Merry Christmas. Enjoy family and friends. That's what life is all about.

dg