Ringing Up Some Christmas Spirit

I've gotta admit, I haven't been feeling very Christmas-y.  Durwood's had some health adventures, nothing to worry about but irritating all the same, DD and her family are unable to come "home" for Christmas, and I caught a lovely head cold that is in full bloom.  Bah. Seeing DS, DIL1, LC, and OJ always cheers me up.  DIL1 posted a short video she took of their family ringing the Salvation Army bell at a food store yesterday after naptime and it brought me up short.  Over the years I've volunteered an hour at the kettle and always loved it.  You all know how shy I am and how I never talk to strangers (ahem) so spending an hour in a grocery store vestibule dancing and singing along to the Muzak while ringing the bell and "Merry Christmas"-ing people into making a little donation is not a hardship for me.  Besides dancing keeps you warm.  A-a-anyway, last night I went onto the SA website to see if there was an open shift today only to discover that the signup sheet was gone.  Drat.  I went to Festival Foods to nab a couple NY strip steaks they had on sale for our Christmas dinner and noticed that the kettle & stand were still there and no one was manning it.  Then I went to Pick 'n Save to pick up a couple prescriptions and the kettle was still there and no one was ringing.  When I got to the pharmacy window the Rxs weren't ready so I told the pharmacist I'd go ring the bell for an hour and be back.  So that's what I did.  There's a backpack zip-tied to the stand with aprons and bells inside so I dug out one of each, picked the bell I liked the sound of, and got to dancing and ringing.  I Merry Christmas-ed everyone who came in or went out, looked them right in the eyes when I did it, and smiled like I knew the secret of happiness.  (turns out I do, it's doing something for someone else without expecting anything in return)  I raked it in.  A couple people put in $5 bills and nearly everyone put in something, even if it was their change from a purchase.  One woman and her daughter looked like they needed to dip into the kettle but she dug three pennies out of the bottom of her purse for her about-10-years-old daughter to put in.  What a gift.  That hour was my gift to myself.  I'll be there on Christmas Eve again next year, you can bet on it.  BTW, dancing while ringing the SA bell really jacks up your daily step count.  A big day for me is 4500, I'm over 8100.

To try to ease busy schedules and holiday insanity, DS and his family came here for supper and to exchange gifts last night.  The kids were wired from an hour's bell-ringing and the sight of presents to unwrap, and Mama and Daddy were tired.  I made a chicken and root vegetables sheet pan supper, they brought salad with DIL1's family's homemade salad dressing (yum!) and a plate of homemade cookies and candy.  All of the gifts were hits.  The puppets were instant favorites and we had a lovely, crazy delicious supper before they wandered off into the deepening cold for bath night and bedtime.

 

DD sent me this beautiful bamboo fountain pen and a bunch of different colored ink cartridges.  It writes like a dream.  DS & DIL1 gave me a page of blank 2018 month boxes with an invitation to a once a month outing with DS for coffee or chat or cocktails.  From Durwood I unwrapped the box of the phone he bought me a couple months back.  It was all I wanted for Christmas and he said to buy it, so I did.  It was even on sale.  Funny how it takes so many years of holidays to really understand that it's having your loved ones around and giving gifts to others that's the real joy of Christmas.

I didn't write last night.  I got the kitchen cleaned up and all of Durwood's piles back onto and around the table like he likes it and crashed.  I listened to a meditation before going to sleep and woke up this morning with my uncharged cellphone still on my nightstand.  Sometime in the night I must have turned off the light...  I'll close with a picture of me and my writer friend, Lala, at the Garden of Lights on Friday night.  

Have a Merry Christmas everyone.

--Barbara