Traditional Holiday Season

     I hope my readers will forgive my lack of submissions in the last few weeks. My only excuse is that I have been extremely busy. Spare time has become a precious commodity of late. I’m not complaining because I am enjoying myself. I have always enjoyed writing; and going back to school this late in life means I am writing several papers each week. Generally, it’s not the type of writing I enjoy; too dry and scientific for my tastes. I like humor and there isn’t much call for that in anatomy or psychology. So what has inspired me to write tonight knowing I have a lab practical and midterm coming up in Anatomy and two papers to write for psychology and another for English Composition?

     It’s the Holiday season. This year, I have been finding myself in the holiday spirit much earlier than usual. Maybe it’s because my life has “jumped the track”, for lack of a better term. I have been reminded, once again, of just how blessed I am. I wouldn’t trade my life with anyone.  Though I haven’t been able to hunt much this year (something I plan to remedy between fall and spring semester), I have spent some great times with my family. That’s hard to do working six days a week.

     I believe that the plant closing that caused me to lose my job has been a blessing. I would have been there, on that same job fifteen years from now. I’d still be working six days a week, missing things like “Doughnuts with Dads” which I was able to attend with my nine year old daughter at her school this year. This function conspicuously coincides with the book fair, which you have to walk through to get your ticket for your “free” doughnut. Never fear dads, they accept debit cards. I told my little girl that it was the first time a free doughnut had cost me thirty two bucks. She thought that was funny. I thought that seeing her laugh with chocolate icing at the corners of her mouth was worth thirty two hundred bucks.

     My boys are looking forward to our Christmas break. We are planning our deer hunting strategy. They reminded me that I didn’t get a deer last year with the Big Bore revolver I built. I assured them that I was aware of that fact and would redeem myself over Christmas break. Here’s a helpful hint, if you want to take a deer with a handgun, don’t take a rifle with you. It’s very hard to take a fifty yard shot with a pistol when you have a .30-06 Winchester Model 70 lying in your lap. The temptation to pick up the rifle and instantly turn a tough shot into a “gimme” is overwhelming.

      A week from Thursday, take inventory of your blessings. Love those family and friends that make everything you do worth doing. When you are out in the woods rejuvenating, be mindful of the Creator of it all and give Him His due. I would expect that He hears from many hunters as they take in the beauty that surrounds them. I know I have uttered many praises from a deer stand. If you have nothing to be thankful for, you’re in need of more help than I can provide here. Find a church near you and go. I suspect you will find that being unable to be thankful is due to a heart condition. It’s not one your cardiologist can fix.

     I hope that all of you have a blessed Thanksgiving. I also hope that you will prepare yourselves for Christmas. Not by shopping on Black Friday, but by doing for others. You want to feel the real Christmas spirit? Help someone less fortunate. Invite someone to Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, that doesn’t have anyone. It may be a senior citizen whose children are far away, maybe the “old grouch” down the street. Make him feel warm and welcome and watch his heart melt. How about a care package for a soldier? Also, our custom is to send a box for each of our children to Operation Christmas Child. We let our kids help pack the boxes. When we do for others, we learn what really matters at Christmas. Remember these words, “Inasmuch as ye have done it for the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me”.

God Bless,

Jamie