A Visit From.....

Twas the night before Christmas & all through the house,
not a creature was stirring .... well .... except for our dwarf hamster Belle.
(I mean, she's nocturnal & all - she always seems to be training for the rodent Olympics around this time)
 
The stockings were hung in the doorway by tacks,
In hopes that they'll hold up when filled to the max.

The children were nestled, all snug in the rear seat of the minivan;
While visions of gift cards danced in their head.

With Mama Dawn on my right & my cellphone on my hip;
We'd just settled in for a long winter's trip.

When there arose from my wife such a clatter, that I slammed on the brakes to see what was the matter.

The beautiful Dawn was alarmed so I parked in a flash,
Got my cell at the ready & leaned on the dash.

Then she said with a whisper, that I heard like a clap,
The kids presents are bought, but nothing is wrapped.

The food isn't cooked, she continued to say,
And the house is a mess because I fired the maid.

With a twitch of my wrist l shifted in gear,
And floored it because Christmas soon would be here.

Faster than eagles on my course I did drive,
My family is lucky that we're all still alive.

Past Arnold & Barnhart, past Imperial & Pevely,
Then Herky & Festus, beyond Bloomsdale & Zell.

Then what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But what seemed to be a comic book hero was suddenly here.
 
She said not a word, as she looked for the tape,
I soon noticed the big "S" that was sewn on her cape.

"To the top of the Porch! To the end of the hall!
Get the kids off to bed & I will soon wrap them all."
 
As dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly,
When she meets with an obstacle, she's certain to try.

So off to the table with wrapping paper she flew,
With a sleighful of toys - and a DVD too.
 
And in a twinkling I saw gifts all under the tree,
I then ran to the kitchen to see her moving quickly.

As I shook my head & was turning around,
Amazingly now, a clean house I now found.
 
A wink of her eye and a twist of her head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

She spoke not a word, but went straight to her work,
She filled all the stockings, then looked at this jerk.
 
Removing her cape, she laid it aside,
She then rolled into bed, & laid on her side.

But I heard this refrain, as sleep ended her night,
"Merry Christmas to all & to all a goodnight!"

This has been my way to say Merry Christmas to my beautiful Dawn - the love of my life & genuine Superwife - I love you!

Journey - (it's not just a band for GLEE to cover)

Yesterday was to be my 40th birthday, but I declined the award because I didn't feel I deserved it.  I'm not sure I have 40 years worth of accomplishments to offer to the universe.  Like the song we used to sing in church, He's still working on me, to make me what I ought to be.  In other words, I'm still under construction.  But then again, aren't we all.

The only way I feel that age matters to me is in the loss of certain childhood dreams.  Like most little boys, I dreamt of playing in the pros, whether football or baseball.  Those dreams have realistically been gone for several years, but kept alive in movies such as The Natural and The Rookie (baseball) and Unnecessary Roughness and The Replacements (football) where aging men whose dreams had long been thought gone, find their moment of glory fufilled.  Today, I can no longer dream that I am a Roy Hobbs, sidetracked for a time, but still ready to find my moment on the field.  That time for me has truly passed.

With one child off to college already, I can sense that even more changes are imminent.  The road that we are on will soon come to an end and a new course will be chosen.  In truth, age has nothing to do with the journey.  As Indiana Jones once said, "It's not the years, it's the mileage".

The following is something I wrote earlier this year.  Watching the snow fall outside today, it came to mind.  I offer it again to say this - life is a journey; and on that journey, choose your passengers well.

Oh, and whatever happens on your journey - don't stop believing.

Enjoy....

In Missouri, as in what seems to be 80% of the nation, we've had a lot of snowfall.  Here in Sainte Genevieve we had a few storms that gave us a powdering to an inch or two.  But this week, we had enough snow to head for the in-laws and do some sledding.  The sun was shining and the snow had a real glaze on top; perfect for sledding. 

Two of our three children had spent the night at Nana and Papa's, so they were already out back when my wife and I arrived.  Out the back door, I walked to the top of the hill.  I saw Anna and Nate at the bottom of the hill with Finn, the little boy next door who's friends with Nate.  Papa Gary gave me the layout of the route.  Their hill slopes from two directions into a corner of their yard, fenced on one side with untamed mother nature on the other.  This can make for some odd approaches and close calls with the fence and the trees.  Papa said it was slick and fast and they had moved the disc sleds out of the rotation since they were harder to steer.   Whether because I was brave and foolhardy or I just felt my girth needed it, I grabbed a disc and said we'd see about that.  He pointed out the different paths they had taken, I picked what I thought would be the fastest and off I went.