Just a week before Christmas, I had a visitor.  This is how it happened.  I just finished the household chores for the night and was preparing to go to bed, when I heard a noise in the front of the house.  I opened the door to the front room and to my surprise, Santa himself stepped out next to the fireplace.

“What are you doing?” I started to ask.  The words choked up in my throat and I saw he had tears in his eyes.  His usual jolly manner was gone.  Gone was the eager, boisterous sould we all know.

He then answered me with a simple statement….”TEACH THE CHILDREN!”

I was puzzled.  What did he mean?

He anticipated my question and with one quick movement brought forth a miniature toy bag from behind the tree.  As I stood bewildered, Santa said, “Teach the children!  Teach them the old meaning of Christmas. The meaning that now-a-days Christmas has forgotten.”

Santa then reached in his bag and pulled out a FIR TREE and placed it before the mantle.  “Teach the children that the pure green color of the stately fir tree remains green all year ’round, depicting the everlasting hope of mankind, all needles point heavenward, making it a symbol of man’s thoughts turning toward Heaven.”

He again reached into his bag and pulled out a brilliant STAR.  “Teach the children that the star was the heavenly sign of promises long ago.  God promised a Savior for the world, and the star was the sign of fulfillment of His promise.”

He then reached into his bag and pulled out a CANDLE.  “Teach the children that the candle symbolizes that Christ is the light of the world, and when we see this great light we are reminded of He who displaces the darkness.”

Once again he reached into his bag and removed a WREATH and placed it on the tree.  “Teach the children that the wreath symbolizes the real nature of love.  Real love never ceases.  Love is one continuous round of affection.”

He then pulled from his bag an ORNAMENT of himself.  “Teach the children that I, Santa Claus, symbolize the generosity and good will we feel during the month of December.”

He then brought out a HOLLY LEAF.  “Teach the children that the holly plan represents immortality.  It represents the crown of thorns worn by our Savior.  The red holly berries represent the blood shed by Him.”

Next he pulled from his bag a GIFT and said, “Teach the children that God so loved the world that He gave His begotten Son.” Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.

Santa then reached in his bag and pulled out a CANDY CANE and hung it on the tree.  “Teach the children that the candy cane represents the shepherds’ crook.  The crook on the staff helps to bring back strayed sheep to the flock. The candy cane is the symbol that we are our brother’s keeper.”

He reached in again and pulled out an ANGEL.  “Teach the children that it was the angels that heralded in the glorious news of the Savior’s birth.  The angels sang Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace and good will toward men.”

Suddenly I heard a soft twinkling sound, and from his bag he pulled out a BELL.  “Teach the children that as the lost sheep are found by the sound of the bell, it should ring mankind to the fold.  The bell symbolizes guidance and return.”

Santa looked back and was pleased.  He looked back at me and I saw that the twinkle was back in his eyes.  He said, “Remember, teach the children the true meaning of Christmas and do not put me in the center, for I am but a humble servant of the One that is, and I bow down to worship Him, our Lord, our God.”  -Author Unknown

One such “opportunity” that she had gotten in on the ground floor of was digital signage.  She could see, even before everything went to being digital, that it was going to take over the world and change the world as we know it.  Needless to say, over the last 3 or 4 years, the value of her stocks and the dividends that she was getting back had soared into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for a year!!!  That was a GREAT way to pay for her “hobby”, she thought!!!

Whoever said “Hindsight is 20/20″ was TOTALLY right, in my opinion!!!  Sometimes, after the fact, it’s easy to see that you SHOULD have done this, or gone this way, instead of what you ended up doing.  But, then again, us stubborn humans have a tendency to look at only today, and we forget to look at the possible consequences of our decisions, until it’s too late.

There’s your “Food For Thought” for the day, me thinks!!!

God Bless!!

I’ve kind of gotten the urge to work on my stories again, but haven’t been able to find the time or inclination to yet, so I guess this may be my way of writing stories, and taking care of some other necessary computer stuff too.  What do you think?  Are they entertaining enough for you?

More later…maybe….God Bless!!!

When she saw her cows in the trees, she glanced off towards the South of them, and saw one of her cows bogged down in the watering hole.  The cow was still struggling, but it wouldn’t be long before the cow gave up.  She knew she had to act fast, if she was going to save her cow.  She quickly rode over to the edge of the watering hole, and took her rope from her saddle as she stepped down.  She made a loop and threw a hula-han that went over the cows head perfectly.  Then she took the end of the rope in her hand, walked back to her horse that was standing quietly right where she left her, took the slack out of the rope, and dallied the rope around the saddle horn and tied it off.  Then she made her way back towards the cow with her gloved hand on the rope.  When she got to the edge of the watering hole, she ducked under the rope, and backed up about 2 steps.  Then she told her horse to back up.  The cow lunged forward in an attempt to get out of the bog, which put a little slack in the rope, and her horse, being a GOOD roping horse, backed up to take the slack out of the rope again.  Again, she told her horse to back up.  The horse attempted to, but the cow was bogged down deeply enough that she was about to the point of giving up on trying to get out, so she wasn’t being much help.  After 2 or 3 more attempts to get her horse to pull the cow out of the bog, she knew that she was going to have to do something, and do something quick.  The ONLY way her mare could pull the cow out of the bog would be with the cow’s help, even if it was only a little help.  But the cow was now to the point of needing some encouragement, so, without a second thought, she waded into the bog behind the cow.  The mud tried to pull her down as she continued to make her way over to the cow.  The more she moved, the further down she felt herself being pulled.  She had finally made it to where she could touch the cow, so that’s what she did.  This particular cow TOTALLY despised being touched for ANY reason, so when she touched the cow, the cow lunged forward with a renewed strength.  As the cow lunged forward, putting slack in the rope, the mare backed up to take the slack out of the rope.  Little by little, they were able to get the cow closer to solid ground.  And then, with one more lunge, the cow was free of the bog and shaking off the mud.  The mare stood still as the cow tried to go to the others, but found she couldn’t because of the rope around her neck.  The woman got to the point in the process of making her way to solid ground that she realized that she wasn’t making any more progress.  So she called her mare over to her.  The mare, though slowed down a little by the cow’s protesting, came to stand on the last piece of solid ground before the bog.  She stood sideways, so that her owner could get ahold of the stirrup on the saddle.  When she had ahold of the stirrup, she commanded the mare to turn to the left, which she did.  As the mare turned to the left, the woman was pulled from the bog, and let go of the stirrup when she was completely on solid ground.  She laid there for a moment, exhausted from her task and covered in mud to about chest level.  She realized then that it was a good thing that she had emptied the laundry hamper this morning by starting a load of laundry before she left the house, because this set of clothes was going to need to be washed separately.

We have SOOOOOO much planned over Christmas break!!!  It should be a REALLY fun time for us, although I have NO doubts that it will go too fast!!!

Read my Bible for the first time in 2 or 3 days.  Just haven’t been reading because I haven’t felt good.  Kind of made up for it some this morning, though, and might make up some more ground before the day is out.

More later….God Bless!!!

One thing that she was truly thankful for is the fact that she didn’t have to worry about her weight, like it seems that the rest of society did.  She had seen article upon article telling people “THE” secret to losing weight.  In HER mind, her active lifestyle kept her slim and trim and toned enough that she would never have to worry about how to lose weight. She was ALWAYS on the go, because there was ALWAYS something that needed to be done. And since she was the only one there, most of the time, there was no one else to do it. She had animals depending on her, and she liked it that way.  And she had ALWAYS loved horseback riding, which, in HER mind, was one of the BEST ways to lose weight and tone your muscles!!!

Saw an acquaintance in passing today.  I hadn’t seen him since his Mother’s funeral 3 or 4 weeks ago.  He seemed to be doing okay, though that can probably be debated since he was with his work crew when I saw him this morning.  It was nice to see him, even if we didn’t get a chance to talk!!  At least I know he’s still surviving!!!  Keep praying for him and the rest of his family, I guess is about all I can do at this point in time!!

More later….maybe…God Bless!!!