Up since 5 a.m. assembling platters of cookies and candy. Today will continue to be a busy day with running, shopping for last minute gifts and food, and delivering the Xmas platters. Don't get me wrong...I'm not complaining. I absolutely love the business of Christmas.

At this time of year the people in the stores and on the streets seem much more friendly and compassionate. I love that I can say "hello" to folks as they linger with me in the toy aisle, and a conversation ensues regarding the child for whom we're shopping.

My wish is that it could be more like Christmas all year long...the caring and sharing are amazing. With that in mind, please remember to smile at your sales associates, stay off of your cell phone while you're paying for something, be friendly toward your fellow shoppers, and be generous with your donations of commercial items, money and, especially time.

Merry Christmas, my cyber readers. God bless.

shel

Gabe's Toy Adventure

My grandboys have hundreds of dollars worth of toys to play with at my house. I have purchased some new, got some from rummage sales, have had many handed down or from Freecycle.org, and have some from Happy Meals.

What was the toy of choice when Gabe was here last night?

My pots and pans were the hit of the evening. Gabe spent the better part of an hour pulling them out of the corner cupboard, stacking and re-stacking them. He then decided that every pan needed to go into my sink, and stood on his little tiptoes to drop them in. After that Gabe found my two cookie presses and their various shape plates. He got into the Tupperware cabinet and pulled out a big green container to hold all of those pieces. Perhaps we have an aspiring pastry chef on our hands!

Gabe missed picking up one dutch oven. It was on the floor between the dining room and kitchen. Little Jaxxon, in the beginning stages of crawling, made record time getting to it. He enjoyed picking up the edge of it and dropping it back onto the vinyl floor. It made a very satisfying sound for him from the way he laughed each time it "kling"ed.

Alana, Max, David and I were able to play two good games of Rummikub while the boys played nicely with their "toys".

This morning I had a full load for my dishwasher. I don't mind...Gabe and Jaxxon had a wonderful time with my cookware. Maybe I should get them a child-sized set for Christmas!

Hope you all enjoy your day.
shel