Magical Reindeer Food Really Does Exist!

Down the street from our house lives Mr. Tinker. He is an older man and he has trouble getting around. Trenton and Doyle my sons help him with small jobs around his house. Just little tasks, like taking the trash to the road or raking up fall leaves. They have formed a good friendship with each other. In fact, Mr. Tinker often invites the boys to come over to sit on his porch just to talk.

While we were writing our Christmas letters the boys told me that they were worried about how Mr. Tinker would be spending his Christmas. He had no family that either of them had ever heard of or seen. The boys decided that they would ask Santa to bring something special for Mr. Tinker that year.

Doyle and Trenton couldn’t wait to mail a letter to Santa. They just knew for sure that Santa would bring something to make Mr. Tinker’s Christmas a little brighter. I was glad to see the boys showing so much compassion for Mr. Tinker. It was good for him to have them stop by and give him company.

I told the boys that I would take them shopping to buy a gift for Mr. Tinker. Trenton picked out a thick flannel coat. He chose blue because Mr. Tinker had once told him it was his favorite color. Doyle wanted to buy a pair of warm house shoes and gloves. He said Mr. Tinker always complained of having cold hands and feet.

That week a snow storm blew in over a foot of snow. We walked down to see if Mr. Tinker needed us to get him anything while we were out in the truck. He handed me a list and the money, he told me to keep the change for my trouble. Mr. tinker than turned to the boys and told them to close their eyes and hold out their hands.

In each of their hands he placed a small cloth bag. When they opened their eyes they didn’t know what to think. Mr. Tinker grinned and explained that inside the bags was magical reindeer food for them to leave out Christmas Eve. They showed off their gifts to their dad that night at dinner.

On Christmas Eve the boys went out in the backyard to put out the reindeer food. I gave them a big plastic green bowl with pictures of snowmen on it to put the food in. They took their time trying to decide what would be the best place to leave food for Santa’s pets. On Christmas morning they couldn’t wait to see if the reindeer ate any of the food that Mr. Tinker had given them. To their surprise the bowl was completely empty and there were deer tracks in the snow across the yard.

Christmas Shopping – The Fun, The Memories, & Christmas Letters

Every year my husband and I head out to the stores and malls to collect gifts for all of the people we love.  We plan on going during the weeks when the stores aren’t as crowded. We go out and have dinner alone together. We love to see how the store windows are decorated. I don’t understand how anyone can help but be caught up in the spirit of Christmas. It gives us time out of the house to reconnect during the sometimes hectic holiday season.

There are many people on our Christmas list. We try to find something special for each and every person on our list. That is easier for some than others. Let’s face it – there comes a time that children become difficult to buy for. At least that’s how it seems to me. Not only do the gifts they want get more expensive, I honestly have trouble picking out what they will actually want or use.

It doesn’t seem all that long ago when getting a letter from the North Pole was the highlight of my grandkid’s Christmas. Now they ask for things I have to Google just to find out what I’m looking for. I gave up on buying clothes for my older grandkids - I have been told that I don’t know what is in style. Besides socks I take them with me to buy their clothes. I remember going through this same thing with my own kids as they were growing up and with my parents when I ‘suddenly got smarter than them’. It happens to all of us as we age. It’s simply part of becoming a teenager.

Okay, back to shopping. When my husband and I are out shopping we like to recall memories about Christmases we have shared in the past. We laugh about how cool the kids thought they were the year they got an autographed picture of Santa. We have collected so many Christmas memories together that we never run out of things to talk about while we shop. As we talk we collect more and more bags. Every once in awhile we will run across something that we just know someone special will love. Those are the gifts I look forward to giving the most.

We still buy toys for the youngest children. John and I love going to the toy store. We revert back to children as soon as we walk in the door. We have no trouble finding a gift from Santa for every kid in our life. Sometimes I have to remind John to behave himself. I think we try out about every toy in the store. Little kids are so easy and fun to shop for. Every year we go overboard at the toy store - I guess we just can help ourselves.

We try our best every year to get what is in our kids' letters to Santa. we have never had a Christmas where the little kids were unhappy with what they got. I like it when they open up things they weren’t expecting. I enjoy the surprised look on their faces. We try our best to give all the children in our lives happy Christmas memories to carry with them for the rest of their lives.

         

       

Christmas Snow Blown In From The North Pole

The first snow of the year just happen to fall on the same day my kids received their letters from Santa. When we woke that morning we turned on the T. V. and sure enough school was going to be out that day. Like all schoolchildren my kids were overjoyed. There just something special about a day when school gets canceled due to snow. They went straight to the closet and started to pull out their snow gear. It was only two weeks until Christmas and that’s all they could talk about.

They had all been checking the mailbox everyday waiting to get a letter back from Santa. My son Johnny said that he thought it had been forever since he had sent off his letter to Santa.  In reality it had only been a week or two. Thank goodness it seemed like the snow was giving them something else to think about that day. I made them come in and have warm up breaks. No one protested because they knew that hot chocolate and cookies were waiting for them inside.

At lunch time them came in and had chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. The conversation turned once again to their letters. My daughter said that maybe a letter from the North Pole brought all the snow with it. We all laughed and noticed that the snow was still falling outside. The snow had really begun to pile up everywhere. My husband John made a fire and the kids gathered around close to warm up. Once they had warmed up they went right back to playing in the snow.

I heard the front door open and a troop of snow boots running across the room. They were all yelling and holding in their hand a letter from Santa. They had seen the mailman coming and met him at the mailbox. There was a letter to each of them from Santa. My youngest, Derek, said he thought the letters really brought the snow with them from the North Pole. He called his Grandma to tell her all about the letters and the snow. My mom told him she was glad he could get a letter back from Santa.  

The snow kept right on falling and our city shut down. Every morning the kids waited to hear that school was canceled. The kids said they thought it was just a gift from Santa for being so good all year. School was canceled for the rest of the week. We spent the time just hanging out together and playing in the snow. There was some Christmas magic in that snow and just maybe it had been sent from the North Pole.