A hastily assembled post and a hastily assembled outfit

I may well add to this later but for now a quick post of a page for my JYC and my PAD

 

Last night we went to a Santa's grotto part which was great fun. Nigel had elf ears and I lit up the night.

 

 

 

And the same set of lights threaded through a Christmassy jumper also worked for Festive Jumper day today.

 

It was a cheap festive treat and great fun.  And I still have a set of battery operated lights that are good for a craft project I have in mind later.

 A very quick JYC and I am off to get poshed up for a night out witht he girls. ... not a festive jumper in sight.

 

 

 Today I am thankful for

• such generosity and being very very spoilt
• very very thoughtful gifts
• the start of the holidays
• Nigel and I both off work for a while now

 

and finally my page a day calendar page and in light of one of the truly special presents I received today it is a very apt story for me.

I tried to think of something special to make my husband’s face light up at Christmas. Gene had once shared a childhood memory about the boy who lived down the hill from him back in Indiana. His friend had received a new bicycle for Christmas, and Gene had even ridden it a few times. But Gene had never been able to have one of his own.

We happened by a store, and I pointed out a spiffy bicycle in the window. “I just might get you one,” I said teasingly.

“I do not need a bicycle. Do not get me one,” Gene said emphatically. Deflated, I said nothing.

Later that week, we were reading our mail in the living room, Gene with his pile, me with mine. “Here’s the bicycle I want, honey,” he announced loudly. Was he teasing me?

I moved over next to him and looked at the catalog he was holding.

It showed a bike surrounded by an overjoyed father, a smiling mother, and seven skinny, happy children. They lived in an underdeveloped country, and the bike would provide transportation so the
father could get a job. The catalog explained that anyone could give a bicycle, garden seeds, or even an ox.

Gene got his bicycle for Christmas, and halfway around the world, lives would be changed forever.

Father, I have so much to learn about true giving. Teach me.—MARION BOND
WEST