"He lives most life whoever breathes most air." ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Welcome back. I'm glad to be here once again greeting one and all as we get to take a breather and share some time together in this fleeting and fast moving month of December, and on this day, Monday, the 8th. Already? We took care of Santa Enterprise activities throughout the weekend. On Friday we were with the professional photographer, and on Friday evening we showed up for a massing of a huge subdivision Christmas party. Saturday we were able to provide some photos with a number of older and special needs folks from an apartment complex where our ladies have a weekly ministry. Talk about rewarding! Seeing the expressions on their faces was priceless. Then yesterday we had the big birthday party to honor Jesus at our local fellowship. After all the worship and special recognition to Him that He and He alone deserves, the wife and I, aka Santa and Mrs. Claus, we hung around so that families could get their photo made. Someone asked me the other day if I had even a guess of how many Christmas cards that I am a part of each year. I really don't but that is a neat part of portraying the jolly old dude. Now, it's time to get back to work and focus on other things for this week. At the same time we will try to stay mentally ready for the extracurricular plans for two three hour stints at the Chick fil A's this week, some photos for the teen lock-in party at the Church, and a breakfast appearance at a country club coming up next Saturday.

Bless his heart!

What's that? Am I a glutton for punishment? Not really. The appearances we do are actually repeats from prior years. The folks involved have been so wonderful to us, therefore, we try to honor their requests. And believe me, we do have many other requests each year and they seem to be growing. My respect is profound for those older guys who work the malls. Some of them are handling children for 10 or more hours each day. Some of them are up in their 70's or older. Haven't you heard the news? We have an obesity problem in this country. Believe me, no one knows this better than those bearded warriors at the shopping malls. People often ask me if I intend to ever do one of those mall assignments. I suppose one should never say never, but, it's not on the bucket list I don't have and it's not something I aspire to. Anyone who thinks those fellows have an easy job just sitting in a big chair all day, well, I speak with extreme authority on the subject, and my thoughts are that people who think things like that do not have a clue, period, end of story, and I, by the way, am unanimous in my own opinion.

I know you get more than your fair quota of Santa related stuff during the holiday period each year. Having a daily blog more or less tracks alongside how life unfolds and this unique activity for us does both occupy a sizable portion of our time and it also produces a lot of material. Why so much material? People. Children. Family. Christmas. Love. Joy. I could share on any given day quite a bit about the mega mess we have going on in Washington D.C. On all sides. But when I delve too frequently into political matters it is not as entertaining to some of my readers as some of the other stuff I share. Some also might think the same thing when I write about spiritual matters, or life observations, or even when I reminiscence about the past. And, to me, that's entirely okay and understandable. A fellow I know told me his wife was soon to celebrate her 39th birthday. I told him that was a pretty famous birthday number. He asked me why. I asked him had he ever heard Jack Benny talk about his age. He asked me who Jack Benny is. I rest my case. Have a great Monday and may our Great God add His blessings to us all. Amen.  ....More later.