Today was the first day of the season, nearly two weeks before Thanksgiving, Uffda.
Spent time with the old gang today, Jack and Sally, Elsa, Anna and Olaf, the indomitable Grinch…
I played a game with the Grinch, although he was more subject to than of. I did the very UnSantable thing and sneaked up behind him while he was distracted by children and I hooked three candy canes in the back of his jacket. He had no idea until sometime after I left a child asked him if they could have a candy cane. He didn’t know he had any and so he told them and they told him he had candy canes on the back of his jacket- We had a pretty good laugh about it.
A child, a wonderful child with a dirty face and hair just slightly unkempt, offered me a drink of his beverage which I was forced to turn down. Children can be so very generous, it touched my heart.
We have a couple ladies whose family gets involved doing set dressing. I think they have covered over one hundred boxes by now at their own expense. Last year they purchased a dozen stuffed animals that we named (and they still remember the names) and this year their brother has joined the team with half s dozen more including an otter and a goat so the set looks grand.
I want to tell you about one other child when I was just outside of Dublin at a motorway rest area which is a nice little area of commerce. A convenience store a number of food retailers selling chicken, pizza, ulster fries, sausage rolls- many of the spectrum of foods available in Eire are represented.
I ate my meal and got up to go- and I don’t know the moment I was spotted, but this lovely little, I’d guess, three year old girl saw me and caught my eye on my way out. She was adorable but mute, as was her older brother- he was more stunned, and mom and dad watched this unfold.
I stopped by their table and said “Hi”. This beautiful little girl looked up at me with beautiful eyes and behind them was a whir of thoughts on generosity. She turned and looked at her lunch, which was nearly finished, arranged a piece of chicken that she wasn’t quite finished with, and held that little lunch box up to me in an offer to share in her meal.
Of course I thanked her and praised her generosity, quickly departing because I can only take so much cute at a time. I will be remembering that sweet little Irish lass for some time to come.
Today was an adventure and a time of new beginnings, new winter beginnings. We will see what tomorrow will bring. Hopefully more good cheer and welcome to the love of family and friends. The thing that the world makes this day about instead of hatred and division.
One other thing, it nearly slipped my mind. A mom and two girls, one aware of a true nature of Santa and one that didn’t want to hear what Santa had to say because she had been told that she was on the “naughty list” and she didn’t want Santa to confirm it so she was in an avoidance mode.
So I told the big sister, who was fighting hard not to interject while I spoke to the little sister, to go stand with her mother… (Well I actually told her that this was between me and the little sister)- And I pulled out my trusty Naughty/Nice list. I showed her a blank side and I showed her a side with names written in elvish. I asked her if she saw her name on the naughty (the blank) side and she said “No”. I said did you see any name at all? And again she said “No”, and I said, “If your name were on the naughty list you would have seen it there. If you didn’t see it then it’s not there”. Then she settled down a bit to know that Santa isn’t not on her side- does that make sense? I followed up by telling her that no one wanted to see her on the nice list more than her mom and that if her mom told her something she could count on it being something that would help her stay on the nice list.
Then I let her go and called her sister over and told her being the big sister comes with responsibility and she needed to help her sister want to be good. If she encouraged her sister she would witness change in her little sister but she had to do her part… So, in a sense we are our siblings keeper.
So, chin up! You’re amazing and God loves you. Keep treading on higher steps, each one carries you to a better place.
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