It won't be long now.

It is Friday, December 21, 2012, and I can almost hear the late Eddy Arnold crooning out this great tune, "Christmas can't be far away." I feel so privileged to work for a Company that tries to provide some extended time off during the holiday season. Today we will enjoy our Christmas fellowship here at the workplace and after finishing our day, we will be off until January 3, 2013. I went ahead and included the year so I can get some practice using it and you can get some practice reading it. After all, I am here to serve. But, I now rejoin the previously started thought process where I am so looking forward to these next eleven days off. My wife has done some preparation, but, beginning tomorrow I hope to be as focused as a bird dog pointing out a covey of quail. (In case you have trouble getting that visual image, go to YouTube and search for bird dog hunting quail.) The object of what likely will be a multiple page to do list is our Christmas family time coming up next Tuesday. Just reading the entries on Facebook tells me there is a whole lot of flu out and about. We are praying that everyone will be able to show up. This was a huge concern to me during my Santa visits with all the coughing and snotty nosed kids. I had this fear of having to call in sick but I thank God that while I did get a sniffle here and there, I was able to complete my entire schedule.

I dreaded that it would happen one day. It finally did. The Hallmark channel has come to our house. Oh, it's been on the menu for years but only recently did it become a mainstay for certain individuals who occupy and share the same domicile with me. I knew she knew it was there but I think it was when she spent time with her sister that they watched so much of it. I know my mom is also a huge fan. The other day I came in and She was watching along with our granddaughter Amanda. I sized up the situation and decided that a preemptive intervention was necessary. I began to explain to Amanda the dangers of this channel. It can turn your mind into mush. I asked if she remembered those brain eating worms from the Star Trek movie. She didn't. At that, She told Amanda to disregard all that was being said. Disregard? Here I was trying to help this child map out a path to mental wellness. I persevered. I explained to her that they only had maybe 2 or 3 story ideas and they used them over and over again but with different characters. I quoted Solomon from the Bible about how there's nothing new under the sun. What did all of this accomplish? Some knowing looks between the two of them along with an invitation for me to use the set in my office upstairs if that would be more suitable to me. I tried folks. The good Lord knows, I tried.

I will be playing it by ear regarding my daily visits but since I do have a pretty good set of ears, I will likely be coming to an email or internet connection on any given day. Don't worry about the ear deal. They say our President has brought new scrutiny to big eared people. That's what I really need. More scrutiny. Growing up I actually didn't realize I was in that category. No one bothered to tell me. I'm not sure when I became aware of it. It may have happened when I got a crew cut, checked it out in the mirror, and saw what looked like handles on a root beer mug. Yes, I am aware of the little red riding hood story. Like, "What big ears you have." Thanks for reminding me of that one. I was going to share some of the statistics about all the positive things that big eared people have going for them. I decided not to. You might get the idea that I am in the least bit concerned about them. You can tell I'm not. Right? Therefore, I suppose this would be a good time for me to say bye bye for now and if you should need to get in touch with me, remember, I'm all ears, or something like that. May God bless each one. Amen.    ....More later.