Surprise

Saying for the day- A gift that surprises is remembered.

In the last week we have had two surprise Christmas gifts.
Surprise gifts are the ones you tend to remember.
This got me to thinking about gifts and surprises.
Over the years my parents gave me a lot of Christmas gifts but I can’t remember most of them.
But one year I asked for a movie screen.
It was all I really wanted. I had a camera and I had a projector.
But I had to project on the wall.
My mother said it was too expensive and that I didn’t need it.
I was sure they would get it anyway.
So when my parents would go to my aunt’s to play canasta and leave us to take care of the foster babies I would look.
I looked in my mother’s closet.
I looked under my parent’s bed.
I looked in every hiding place I could think of including the basement and the coal bin.
There was no screen.
You can’t easily hide something that big.
There were lots of presents, all wrapped, my parents knew we were nosey.
I was sure that I wasn’t getting the screen and to be honest I was disappointed.
So Christmas morning came and there at the bottom of my pile ( I had a pile) was one long box.
I was so surprised .
It was like magic.
I had my screen.
Later I asked my mother where she had hidden it .
It was under my bed the whole time.
It was hidden in plain sight or almost plain sight.
That’s the way it was with that first Christmas.
God sent his gift to us hidden in plain sight.
The promised gift was given but not the way it was expected.
Christmas is an always has been a time of surprises.
May God bless you all.

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News from Pigeon Falls– the little town in my garage where the trains still run and normal things are strange-Day six of what Mrs. Trumble calls “ The occupation”. It was a strange night in Pigeon Falls. Thomas Billings coming out of the Fly Inn at one in the morning swears that the light poles vanished and then returned. People all across the town said that they felt funny. Sort of like riding a roller coaster for just a moment.
This morning the General took his troops , loaded them into the train and left. He told Mrs. Trumble the quarantine was over. He gave no other explanation.
At the same time the telephone service came back on. It was almost as if the week never took place. The troops left on a special addition to the morning milk train.
Dr. Fortress met with Mrs. Trumble at the town hall. He told her that the government had given him a grant from the “ Railroad Extension Act “ that will cover operations for the next two years and is renewable after that so they wouldn’t need to get state aid or a third party investment. For a short time the train would continue running on the lower tracks as it had for the last week. The mountain track that runs through Crippled Creek is out of commission. It seems that a trestle has shifted a foot and there is a break in the track. It will take a week or so to fix that. The mountain track is more the tourist route and not used for supplies or day to day activity.
Mrs. Schmidt is going to go to Hawaii unless something else goes wrong.
It is starting out to be a great day in Pigeon Falls. Will we every know why the troops occupied Pigeon Falls. What did Tommy and Eino see? Why is the trestle off a half a foot? Has the government bribed Dr. Fortress? Will these stupid questions ever stop?
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Today’s link-No more links until next Wednesday. Go Christmas shopping. Go see a movie. Go to a play. Have fun
In the morning Apria came with my new oxygen filler so now I can fill little tanks to take in the car and we can leave the big clunker at the house. I sent an e-mail to my Bishop who read it and jumped as Bishops will to a wrong conclusion and E-mailed me. I had to send another as a corrective. I will learn. Betty wrapped Christmas gifts and we are almost done. Then we made a couple of little videos but I have no sound on my machine so I don't know how they came out. I know I look bad in both of them but then I always look bad. I need a camera that will make me look good. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA