"Twas the night after Christmas and all through the house, every creature felt stuffed including the mouse. The toys lay broken and all the batteries were dead, while Santa lay sleeping all snuggled in his bed."

Twenty four million. Wow! That's how many packages UPS reportedly was to deliver last Thursday, its busiest delivery day of the year. Welcome back. It is the Monday after, here on the 26th day of December, 2011. I mention the 24 million because I will tell you something that is true, I wasn't interested in nary a one of them or in receiving any gifts whatsoever. I'm blessed to still have my two front teeth so I will have to wait to even look forward to singing that silly song. But, really, I just don't have a pronounced desire for stuff anymore. Now don't get me wrong. I greatly appreciate my family giving me gifts to show their love and appreciation but I certainly was not seeking them. I well remember one little girl sitting in my lap and she had this to say: "I just want everyone in my family to have a wonderful time at Christmas!" And, she echoed my sentiment, exactly, 100%, right on the money! And, thank God we were once again blessed to have our bunch all together on Sunday afternoon. We prayed as a family, we laughed, we played, we ate, we enjoyed enjoying each other, and that to me was the gift I sought for Christmas. We don't have to read about how that Christmas joy is for those aged 1 to 99 because we have our own model in progress from those barely walking up to those of us wearing the white hair. What a time we had. Another one for the memory vault. And, I pause to thank the Lord God Almighty for His wonderful blessings. Amen.

We, like every family, have our challenges. Best I can tell, no one is immune. But it is wonderful to be able to put all of the troubles-in-progress aside for one day in order to love on each other. Seeing our boys together again always fills us up with memories from days gone by. Observing the excitement of our little ones, well, that's better than the commercial that tries to conjure up a meaning for the word priceless. We have our tradition. We always read the account of our Lord's birth. For well over twenty years we have featured a steak cook out for our Christmas meal. This is the way we roll. I've been looking for a place to use that because I hear it a lot and I thought it sounded kind of cool. Ha Ha. Your celebration doesn't look anything like ours? Good! That's why yours is yours and ours is ours. And, oh by the way, that's what makes it special for those who are collecting memories that will be used as a platform for their own unique application in their families. My blogs this week, if there is one, every day, will be somewhat abbreviated. Maybe me cutting them back a little will become a habit. But, don't count on it because Paw Paw used to see me talking and he would always wonder out loud, "Is that boy ever coming up for air?" Have a great Monday and Lord willing I'll see you again soon.     ......More later.