"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable." ~ Joseph Addison Read

Hello friends and neighbors, good to have you on board for today's ride, on this Thursday, December 13, 2018. Everything for us at this particular time continues to be a work in progress. We've done some of our Christmas shopping, but, we still have some loose ends to take care of. We typically have everyone who is available to come on Christmas Day to our home to celebrate as a family. Next week we will begin to try and nail down a headcount so we have an idea of how many to plan for. We always look forward to us coming together. It is our tradition. We plan on doing grilled steaks with all the side dishes and trimmings, something we started when our three boys were in their early teens. Last year I tried to change it up a little by having an old-fashioned barbecue, complete with Granny Mac's homemade barbecue sauce. They ate it, enjoyed it, but, many, including, surprisingly, the younger ones, talked about how much they missed the steak tradition. I promised them I wouldn't make that mistake again. One of the granddaughters said she doesn't eat steak that often but she always knows she will get a good one at MiMi's and Poppy's on Christmas Day. Yikes. You live and learn. Our boys did say the barbecue reminded them of how we used to do them as well. However, the tradition we started wins. Lord willing, of course, and if there's a side of beef available.

You have a completely different food tradition in your family? Good. For us growing up, it was more the traditional turkey, ham, and all the other wonderful side dishes. We still do that one for our Thanksgiving meal, but, for nearly 40 years we've been doing the grilled steak, salad, baked potato, beans, homemade yeast bread, with ice tea to wash it all down. I wouldn't want to even guess how many choices we typically have for desserts but they usually do include our eldest son's superb homemade cheesecake, a pecan pie, and the wife's remarkable coconut cake. We will do our best to have the Community Coffee available to any who might want it to accompany their dessert. It does give us something to look forward to. I remember how mom would always have everyone who could to come home for Christmas. Different menu. Same routine. Then, she and dad grew older and those big celebrations began to fade. However, the wife and I did our best to always carry to them a full meal typically no more than a day or two after Christmas. My oh my, how they enjoyed their grilled meat dinners. We got as much out of carrying it to them as they got out of eating it. They could be funny. They would talk about how they could make the left-overs last. They would save everything and even freeze some of it. They talked about how they could make the cake last if they would both only have a small piece with their coffee at their break time. That too was a part of our Christmas tradition for many years. They've gone home now and this is just a memory, but, it's a good one. Sweet and precious.

I know some might be wondering how we managed our challenge in taking the photos of the 600 kids at the elementary school. We did it in record time. How? There was one lady, I think she may have been an assistant principal, but in reality, she was channeling her inner drill sergeant. She did know how to keep the line moving. She had determined the ones that needed to be lifted versus those who could just lean on me. (The good news for me is how she did most of the lifting and landing them on my knee.) The photographer was in a fixed position and we developed for lack of a better description, an assembly line operation. The children. As always, beautiful, 99.9% cooperative, and they reflected every shade of color known. I don't know exactly how many photos we took. They thought we would need to still be taking photos up to 3 p.m. However, because of 'the sergeant lady' we finished by 1:30 p.m. Hopefully, the photos will turn out to be something the parents will enjoy. As for Santa, that was about as intense as it gets. I think the cooling vest gave up early in the process. We even took a break to wait for the afternoon Pre-K class to arrive. The most fun thing in doing schools is us walking down the halls and being mobbed by the children. They can't help themselves. Instant adulation. When we got home I collapsed. It will take a day or two to get the muscles and bones to quit squawking. But, we did it. This particular venue had Santa and Mrs. Claus in each photo. She didn't have to do any lifting, but, when she is in the picture, she makes the best Mrs. Claus I've ever seen. I'm not sure that's a totally objective observation, but, regardless, it's the truth, period, end of story. You have my word on it. Okay. Let's get on with the day, with God's help, of course. Amen. ....More later.