December chill

Summer wild flowers

I am a bit weary of posting decorations and wanted something to remind me of warmer weather. I shuffled back through my photo archives and caught this one from the back alley behind where I work. This is close to Earl's dog house. Earl is still there. I wave to him when I pass.

Last year the girls that I get together with every month or so decided to purchase a bunch of toys for children that must spend the holidays in a hospital. We went through the routine, called two hospitals, got the information and then the day came to deliver them and the two hospitals in the area said "No, we try to send children home for the holidays."

We were left with a pile of gifts. One of the gal's knew a sheriff in town and he delivered them for us to families that were in need. This year he is helping us to get involved in a program where we can adopt a family. He gave us a family with two children. They do not give the parents any money or gifts. I prefer this method because if I know the family, then usually I know why they don't have money for the holidays. I'd rather not know.

I am not sure why, but I have not seen many collections for The Salvation Army outside of stores this year. I may be a dreamer, but I like to think that when the collector is done with their shift they take that bucket and run it over to a needy family. Like in A Christmas Carol, the needy family is sitting around the table with little food and heat and trying to keep their spirits up. There is a knock on the door. They open the door to the cold and dark. They can't see the face of the visitor, but a big wad of money (or a big box of food) is shoved into their hands and their problems are solved for at least a while. If it were only like that. It is still a nice dream.