Wise Men (and women) Bearing Gifts

Beauty and I lacked the energy to decorate outside this year as we usually do.

Here’s a photo of last year’s outside display:

But, while we felt decoration-impaired at home, Ginny’s office encourages workers to decorate their cubicles for the holidays. So Ginny pulled six or eight beautiful Christmas card fronts which featured the Wise Men off the web, draped them with garland, and posted the caption:

Wise Men And Women Still Seek Him!

I offered her a picture featuring the Wise Men.

A picture I find touching.

A picture capturing the spirit of the season.

But, would my beautiful wife use it?

No.

Here is my favorite Wise Men Bearing Gifts picture:

Why wouldn’t Ginny use my picture for her display?

The woman has no taste.

Monday I took my friend Barbara to lunch and we talked about church stuff.

She said that Liz, a mutual friend, collapsed in her kitchen this morning as she was putting coffee on the stove. Her son found her on the floor and called rescue. They took her to the hospital — Condition unknown.

When Ginny got home from work she told me that one of the ladies there woke up this morning expecting her husband would be up getting ready for work and making coffee. She found him still in bed beside her.

He’d died in his sleep without making a sound.

He was considerably younger than I am. His wife knew of no previous medical problems at all.

Strange.

Ginny’s father called last night to tell her he’d already opened the Christmas gift she sent him. It is so hard for any kid to give a gift to any dad. I used to agonize over what to give my father when he was alive. But Ginny hit right on target this year; in an antique store here in Jacksonville she found a bronze plaque from some turn-of-the-century machine.

And this plaque had Jack’s name on it!

I think the thing dated to about 1909 and it came from some kind of huge boiler or pump, maybe it was once on a train engine, but it had her dad’s namesake in large letters corroded green with age.

That just pleased him to no end.

He seemed really thrilled and that pleased Ginny to no end.

Relax kids, we dads are easier to please than you will ever imagine.

Yes, we have it all.

We’ve done it all.

We’ve seen it all

We know it all.

But don’t despair — You are what pleases us.

Oh, by the way, no word about my biopsy results yet.

Sufficient to the day…