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A quote: “Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.” ~~ Mother Teresa
I’ll start with a story …
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She had no family to speak of. His family thought him too good for her.
That first year of marriage was rough … walking 50 feet in the air with no net as he described it.
No money for Christmas … but he found a fallen evergreen branch to prop in the window and she made origami stars. They wrapped together in a blanket and watched the snow fall.
60 years later, as 3 generations of their family finally take their leave of celebrating, they will wrap in a blanket to watch the snow and remember how blessed they are.
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Now, it’s your turn.
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. featured image, cropped, Adobe Stock standard license
Nolan Parker says: A quote: “Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.” ~~ Mother Teresa..
Then you can write me a Check!
Lewis says: Now, Noland, let’s not get down! Mother Teresa actually helped a lot of people! It’s the smile that gives it away, look deep into it and you know what’s on the last page of the appeal, the package of calendars, the phone call “voice smile” from the politicians. Even the smiling librarian can do it to you, he never has enough tax dollars! Genuine smiles are treasures to keep!
🙂 to you and yours, for a happy Christmas with red hearts, evergreen twigs, and warm cuddly blankets!
Lewis says: Good one, Darleen, lots of folks recalling Christmas Past and hoping for a better one is year!
🙂 and hugs to you and yours this time,too!
Navig8r says: “How cute, a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.”
“He loves his Peanuts cartoons.”
Which was true, but there was “the rest of the story.” There really was a little red haired girl, I really did have a crush on her, and I really was that shy. I waited to see if she would even glance as she walked by. She waved and blew me a kiss, leaving a glow lasting a lifetime and in the months long immediate moment, a joy rivaled but not exceeded the year afterward when my parents finally decided I was old enough for a BB gun.
Fletch says: Be a Christmas tree sure.
That’s just what you’ll do,
A towering cedar,
Or mighty tall spruce.
You’ll climb to the sky,
forty feet the first year,
and by year number ten
you’ll complete disappear.
But that was the year
the bitter-quick came,
stumping down trees
and bringing them shame.
You wound up all stunted,
your limbs barely two,
the smallest of trees,
no Christmas for you.
Your heart thud-thudded.
Your dreams dashedy dashed.
your place in history
gone in a flash.
But then a sweet child
with mittened up hands
hung a little glass globe
on one spindly branch.
Oh, that stunted tree
remembered that day –
all stuffed in his head
till old and quite gray.
His heart was made glad
to swell up three sizes.
A Christmas tree at last
In spite of surprises.
(In the style of Doc Seuss)
When I was in sixth grade, our school’s Christmas program was a production of the Peanuts Christmas special. I remember how badly I wanted to play Peppermint Patty. I don’t remember who actually got the role, but I know that I put my everything into tryouts. It just wasn’t enough, so I got stuck in the chorus. Right then, I really felt like the human equivalent of that pathetic little twig of a tree that Charlie Brown finds, that nobody wants.
Cameron says: We stared at the tiny tree with the lone ornament hanging off it, a sharp contrast to its lack of branches.
“I like it,” my friend said. “Always respect the classics. Is this your work?”
“It is,” I agreed. “But there’s something funny about it.”
“What do you mean?”
“On the bottom of that ornament is a date. That’s when it was hung here.”
He looked the ornament then back to me. “That was about thirty years ago. How did you-“
“Because I hung it here before I moved away.” I grinned. “And it’s been here undisturbed the whole time.”
Dupin says: “Really? You hung an ornament there?”
“People pass by. It’ll make someone smile.”
“More likely, some kid will come by and smash it to bits.”
“So cynical.”
“Or he’ll steal it.”
“Then he needs it more than I do. Even if it’s gone in five minutes, I like the way it looks now.”
“Well, it does add some color.”
“Let’s go get a box of ornaments and do this all around.”
“Seriously?”
“You have anything better to do?”
“Um…. I was thinking about a hot buttered rum to warm up with.”
“That will taste even better once we have decorated.”
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