Weekend Happenings

Good Friday morning!

The Featured Ornament today is Roxie's little Christmas tree. She wanted a tree in her room at a very early age, and that was fine with me. She has a collection of Snow Baby ornaments she used for years. The last two years she has used a set of colorful ornaments I made as a pre-teen. This year, she decided she wanted to do something a little hip and funky, so we bought tiny lime green, aqua and hot pink glass balls and a really fun silver tinsel garland which had all of the above-mentioned colors. She loves to knit scarves, so we grabbed two that had the right color scheme and wrapped them around the base of the tree. She did a really good job of decorating.

The Christmas card count now stands at 20. Austin received a card from the Auburn University Admissions Department, as well as Jacksonville State Admissions Department, but so far he has refused to let me have them. I'm not pushing him now, but the closer I get to 75... watch out! Also, Mikie has four cards at the office from various people I don't know. Those may be coming home next week, also.

When I receive a card from someone I haven't heard from since last year, I love calling them and catching up. I become very nostalgic as we talk about things we used to do together, kids growing up, grandchildren (that's right, I said grandchildren!), etc. It only takes a few minutes, and it's one of those little things that can really make your day. I highly recommend it!

This weekend is the Christmas Pageant at our church, and Roxie's basketball tournament. Austin will be at the church tonight, Saturday and Sunday, and Roxie will have games tonight and tomorrow afternoon.

Mike and I decided to have our Klingler's date this Saturday morning since it's a slow weekend (during the day). He's also been anxious to get to the new Bass Pro Shop which has opened nearby, so I think he and Josh are going to have a little outing after our breakfast to check it out. It looks like a great store, and the people we've talked to have really said some wonderful things. (I like the fact it has a restaurant and a fudge shop. Now, why don't more stores have fudge shops? People go nuts over the fudge shops in Tennessee. You know it would be a big hit! If I was even the least bit entrepreneurial, I might try opening up one of those... but I'm not.)

Except for the fact the following story happened during the Christmas season, it is not especially festive or spiritual. It has more to do with my relationship with birds. At 47 years of age, I have nine bird stories. These are not particularly pleasant stories for me... most of them bring with them horrible memories. However, this particular bird story took place in the month of December, and thus, I will now share it with you.

I was going Christmas shopping at the mall (many years ago), and I parked about a mile from the nearest entrance. Rather than ride around and around and around looking for parking spaces (like my Mom), I go to the outskirts of town and hike. On this particular day, I was almost to the doors of the store when out from under a car a little "parking lot bird" flew. (I know they have a name other than "parking lot bird," but I'm pretty sure everyone knows which birds I'm talking about... the ones that always hang out in the parking lots of malls and grocery stores.)

Anyway, I must have been high stepping it, because before I could stop, I heard a crunch which means I had accidentally stepped on the bird. I froze (with my foot off of the bird), and it half hobbled, half hopped around the parking lot.

I have to admit I panicked. I didn't know what to do. Were "parking lot birds" like horses? When they broke their wing or leg (or someone else broke their wing or leg), were you supposed to put them out of their misery? Would the other birds take care of it, or would they leave it there to die a horrible, painful death. I watched it for another minute. It wasn't getting any better. My first thought was that since I was the one, in fact, who had caused the injury, I couldn't just leave it there to suffer. With all the children coming in and out of the mall, I couldn't very well stomp the little thing to death. That would look bad. That would look really, really bad.

So, still not thinking clearly at all, I decided to walk/run miles to my car and drive back to the scene of the crime. I guess the walk back to the car cleared my head because I started remembering stories of people nursing birds back to health with eye droppers and worms and stuff like that. I breathed a sigh of relief (as I know you are doing right now) knowing that I didn't need to run over the bird with the car (again, doing the bird/horse, broken wing/broken leg comparison... where on earth did that come from?).

Since I was already at the car, I drove back to the spot where I had left the bird. No hobbling, hopping "parking lot bird" anywhere to be seen. I parked the car in the middle of the lane and got out and started looking underneath other parked cars. Again, no sign of the injured bird. There were healthy "parking lot birds" all over the place. I continued looking for another ten minutes or so, and finally, because of the traffic jam my parked car had caused, I had to move on.

Could one of the "parking lot birds" I had just seen have been the one I stepped on? Could I have just caused a minor injury and the little bird just had to "walk it off?" Could it be a little Christmas miracle... you know, like one of those Hallmark movies they show every year at this time?

As I parked on the outskirts of town again, and began the long hike back to the store, I was definitely relieved I had not killed an innocent little "parking lot bird." Especially during the Christmas season. And I learned two important lessons: (1) Always think things through before you act on your impulses (like stomping a bird to death to get it out of its misery); and (2) Always shuffle through parking lots. It takes a lot longer to get where you're going, but the end result is you don't step on innocent little birds. The End!

Book

Today's book of the week is truly wonderful. You will need to put a blanket under the tree the night you read this one if your kids are small, and pass out candy canes. One for each child to lick and enjoy as you read The Candymaker's Gift by David and Helen Haidle.

The illustrations in this book are so beautiful, and even as it talks about candy and the relationship between a little girl and her grandfather, it again tells the Christmas story in an eloquent, fun and memorable way. Your child will never look at a candy cane the same way again.

In the back of the book, it also has step-by-step instructions for a Candy Cane Party for your children.

Next week I have an annual event for moms and their friends, a wonderfully easy quiche (real men do eat quiche if that is what you put on the table), a Christmas Eve tradition, a date with a purpose and yet another book for your Holiday Book Basket.

Have a great weekend, and I'll talk to you on Monday!