Posts Categorized: Gentleness

Not Quite Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, But …

| Gentleness, Kindness, Patience

Trying to put together a family Christmas when three families are involved can be a challenge. Not quite as much of a challenge as some folks with several family members who are farther-flung that mine. We have a family of three who live a hundred miles away in Fort Worth, and a family of two who live in Brooklyn, and we two. We share the Brooklyn family with the rest of their family in southern California, And we share the Fort Worth family with a slew of siblings and parents and in-laws and grandparents, almost all of whom live in the Fort Worth area. So, only a little bit complicated.

Holiday treats were ready! Top to bottom--chocolate chip meringues, peppermint stick bark, peppermint M&M's bark (an experiment/tasty!), cookies w/chocolate chips, walnuts, and dried mulberries

Holiday treats were ready!
Top to bottom–chocolate chip meringues, peppermint stick bark, peppermint M&M’s bark (an experiment/tasty!), cookies w/chocolate chips, walnuts, and dried mulberries

This year’s plan was for the Fort Worth people to drive down first thing on December 26. The Brooklyn people were catching a plane at JFK first thing that morning, also. They would come on down from DFW by train to McGregor, a small town a few miles from us. David was really eager to take Peter to pick them up, because Peter loves trains.  Christmas dinner ingredients were in the cabinets and fridge, cookies were baked and pie fixins’ were ready to be put together and baked. A good solid plan.

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Who in Their Right Mind Would Go to the Grocery Store Three Days Before Christmas?!?

| Gentleness, Goodness, Kindness, Patience, Self-Control

Note the late date of this e-mail, and the lack of suggested deadline for answers.

Note the late date of this e-mail, and the lack of suggested deadline for answers.

Who would do that? Well, maybe it would be someone who waited until the last minute to ask family members what specific kinds of food they want to have during the holidays. And, if someone is going to ask the question, then someone feels a little bit compelled to prepare/provide those foods. Since she asked. If she’d been thinking more clearly, she’d have asked weeks ago and given a deadline for responses, but alas, she did not.

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I Just Can’t Help Myself.

| Gentleness, Kindness, Love, Patience, Self-Control

Who *wouldn't* want to chat with somebody as cute as this! With such a darling hat!!

Who *wouldn’t* want to chat with somebody as cute as this! With such a darling hat!!

I confessed to a class once, when I was teaching Child Development courses at our community college, that I can’t help myself; I talk to little kids at the grocery store. I will talk to them anywhere, but the grocery store provides more opportunities, as they are corralled in a seat in a cart. And, while their nearby adult is putting groceries on the conveyor belt, I am pretty much face-to-face with them, and it just seems a little rude not to chat. I am careful to keep my distance, and I never reach out or touch them.

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Yeah. *That* Waco

| Gentleness, Kindness, Love

In mid-May, I was in North Carolina, attending a Writers’ Conference. I arrived on a Sunday afternoon. That evening, I was playing Words with Friends on my phone, and a message popped up from my sister in San Diego. It said, “WHO lives in a dangerous part of the country?!? It’s a good thing you’re out of town.”

And I said to myself, as I rolled my eyes, “Ollie, Mollie, Gollie. What’s happened now.”

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There Were Friends. And There Was Fun!

| Faithfulness, Gentleness, Goodness, Joy, Patience

 

It was Fun with Friends, and it was very good.

I’ve spent each evening this week at church, with the little kids (Pre-K’s and Kindergarteners). The first through sixth graders were having Music Camp, and we were having Fun with Friends. Literally. We did ART, and lots of it. Sunday was Collage Night. Monday was Drawing Night. Tuesday was Painting  Night. Wednesday was Printing Night. And Thursday was Sculpture Night. As usual, there was Tall Painting. And I was sure you’d want to see photos.

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pie pops

| Gentleness, Patience, Self-Control

thA couple of years ago, I went to a Christmas gathering which included one of those gift exchanges where everybody brings a gift. Then everyone gets a number. When it’s your turn, you choose a gift and open it, and everyone admires it. Then, the next person has the option of taking the wonderful gift you just opened, or choosing another still-wrapped gift and opening it. And it goes on until everyone has a lovely/funny/really interesting gift to take home to use/enjoy/regift to someone else, maybe at another one of those parties, where you might actually end up with that lovely/funny/interesting gift all over again. I’ve been at parties like that where the popular gift just keeps on getting swiped away, but most of the ones I attend now have a “three swipe” limit. So, if you’re the lucky third person to say to someone who used to like you, “Hey, hand that over to me,” you actually will get to go home with something you really want.

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The GOOD Tissues

| Gentleness, Kindness

mclennan_mapI don’t think physicians ever say, to an ailing patient, “You know, for your health, you should move to Central Texas.” We have acres of Cedar Juniper trees here, and lots of folks have allergy problems. I didn’t, when I was growing up here, but it seems like I do now.

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Ah, Yes, The Circle of … WHAT!!!!!!

| Gentleness, Peace

I understand the circle of life. Really I do. I know that lions chase and catch zebras and have them for dinner. (They can also take down a giraffe.) I know that cheetahs run fast and can attack gazelles without any thought as to how graceful and lovely those animals are.

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Patience in the Face of a Smirk

| Gentleness, Kindness, Patience

When Kevin was a senior at TCU, he needed one more literature credit. He and a friend, Thomas, both chose a Science Fiction class to take. Their professor was interesting and likable. Thomas, who was from California, came home with Kevin for Thanksgiving that year. On the way from Fort Worth to Waco, they read aloud to each other from a book that was assigned for the class.

They kept on reading at our house, and I asked whatever WAS it that they were reading. Kevin showed me the book:  Zombies of the Gene Pool. Really.

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