Nutrition and Weight Loss Ideas

Hello again — another day — and still no regular topics.

As I’m sure you’ll figure out on your own, I’m still in the holiday spirit. In fact, I would bet that there won’t be anything other than holiday posts for the next few days. I’ll get back to doing some serious work at the end of this month.

In the meantime, here’s a cute little poem about the season.

Enjoy — and I’ll be back tomorrow.

Shanti.
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Hello again — I guess I must be in a holiday mood or something, but I’m still not settled on a topic for the next series of articles. Although, I am leaning towards doing a double-series — where on each day I will do two articles — covering two different topics and just alternating them each day. Maybe that way I can quit procrastinating and get busy —- notice I said “Maybe”!

In the meantime — and since I’m still not in the writing mood, I’d like to share this wonderful story that I just read in the Internet Marketing Trade Journal — “Just Good Business” .. You can see the web edition at this URL => Web Edition - http://i-Cop.org/jgb/index-imtj.htm

I hope you enjoy this story — I know I did!

“Christmas Adventure with Grandma”

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: “There is no Santa Claus,” she jeered. “Even dummies know that!”

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her “world-famous” cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. “No Santa Claus?” she snorted. “Ridiculous! Don’t believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let’s go.”

“Go? Go where, Grandma?” I asked. I hadn’t even finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun.

“Where” turned out to be Kerby’s General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. “Take this money,” she said, “and buy something for someone who needs it. I’ll wait for you in the car.” Then she turned and walked out of Kerby’s.

I was only eight years old. I’d often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten dollar bill, wondering what to buy and who on earth to buy it for.

I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church. I was just about thought out when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker.

He was a kid with bed breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock’s grade two class. Bobby Decker didn’t have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but we kids all knew that Bobby Decker didn’t have a cough; he had no coat.

I fingered the ten dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat! I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.

“Is this a Christmas present for someone?” the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid down my ten dollars.

“Yes,” I replied shyly. “It’s for Bobby.”

The nice lady smiled at me. I didn’t get any change, but she put the coat in a bag and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, “To Bobby, From Santa Claus” on a card. A little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible.

Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then, she drove me over to Bobby Decker’s house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa’s helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby’s house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge.

“All right, Santa Claus,” she whispered, “get going.”

I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his doorbell and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven’t dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker’s bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.

I still have the Bible with the tag tucked inside - $19.95

Author Unknown

Shanti!

P.S. Don’t forget! YOU can be Santa to a needy child this year …

internettoydrive.org

I’m still kicking around a couple of different ideas about the next series — or — it might be that I’ve been a little lazy about putting something new together — I’ll give your three guesses as to which one it is! {grin}

So, here’s another cute little bit of fluff to make your day. (Isn’t this little person adorable?)

So much of what is important to us at this time of year is about children, their innocence and their faith.

Santa isn’t the only one who gets letters from the little ones. I thought you might enjoy reading these children’s letters to God.

Hope you enjoyed this one .. these are really precious.

I’ll be back…..

Shanti.