All is well that ends well and our wonderful Christmas day was an example of WELL!
I am sure that the old English poets would have loved to have had a day of celebration like the family I am blessed to be a part of did! We didn’t eat a fatted goose (my close relative happens to really enjoy the geese at the pond) and we didn’t have any of that pudding made with beef lard so you see how extremely fortunate we were!
What we did have was a day of wonder that the God we worship sentHis Son to be our savior. Christmas on Sunday is perfect and I am wondering why they didn’t make it a perpetual occasion to have Christmas on the last Sunday of the month of December. OK, I know about the calendar things and all the New Year stuff but going to a service on Christmas morning hasto be one of the greatest freedoms we have. Takes the starch out of the grand materialization of the holiday.
I got the usual gifts, gloves, pocket knife, socks and the new Carhartt coveralls. I love all of it, wear out my clothes and gloves and lose a knife a year so all is needed. Now I sortadread the new coveralls; you know how stiff they are and when wearing new gloves you are at the mercy of the clothing. Opening a wire gate can be a thing of great endurance and talent. But, being the man I am, I will endure and when I get liquid feed on the legs of the outfit my close relative will wash and soften them up.
My given gifts were a hit with the older crowd. I gave gift cards and the Grands got exactly what they all told me they wanted, new saddle, bicycle, .410 shotgun and about too much other stuff.Makes me a hero and, besides that, I love to see their faces when they open the boxes.
My close relative announced her joy at the gift she opened from yours truly. I had wrapped a big box up in a feed sack, red and green baling twine for a bow and she had been eyeing it with raised brows for a week. She was pretty sure it was gonna be a big joke and did not know if she dared to open it. When she found the new ring full of rocks tied to a rock her fears and trepidations disappeared!
It is my opinion, and everyone has one, a bad economy and Wall Street don’t have much to do with our real joys and satisfactions. Home and God are the touchstones of our hearts and we sure need to keep them polished and glowing with love.
Maybe I have been around too much sugary and poetic air this week but it won’t hurt you to pay attention for a little while!
Bill is a pen name used by the Gravette author of this weekly column.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 12/28/2011