24 Days Til Christmas
She sat at
her desk and glanced up to the calendar on the wall. Oh, no!
She couldn’t believe it was December already, let alone only 24 days til
Christmas. She picked up her pencil
began making a list of all the things she had to do before December 25th. The list went something like this: shopping,
make a menu for dinner, send invitations for the Christmas Eve get together, wrap gifts, do Christmas
cards, make cookies and candy, buy a ham for dinner, go caroling to nursing homes,
help with all the functions at church, and that was only part of the list.
She knew
she couldn’t possibly get everything done in 24 days. Being an organized person, however, would
help, so she rewrote her list in a manner so that she could accomplish two or
more tasks at the same time. She began
day one by making a Christmas card list; on to the store to buy cards; to the
post office for stamps and then home to address the cards.
With
Christmas music playing on the radio, she drove through town. Her cell phone jarred her back to reality. “Don’t forget the Women’s Ministry tonight at
6:30 at the church and don’t forget
to bring 3 dozen cookies. Bye.” She clicked off the cheerful voice on the other
end of the phone.
“Well,” she
thought, “There goes my evening of addressing cards.” This
was just day one. What comes next? Her organized lists didn’t leave much wiggle
room. She hurried home and stirred up a batch
of cookies.
Day 2 left
her feeling a bit frazzled; trying to address the cards while purchasing
certain gifts on the internet. She wondered how she could have addressed her
mother-in-law’s to ebay.com? Even that
wasn’t as bad as ordering a size 5X sweater for her best friend, who wore a
size 10. Then the unbelievable happened;
she stamped and mailed a sympathy card instead of a Christmas card to a couple
who just got back together after a split up. How did that card get in with
Christmas cards?
Day 3 was
worse; the phone calls began. The couple
that got the sympathy card was angry beyond words and said with her sick humor
that they would never speak to her again.
Her mother-in-law’s card was returned with “address not known”. Also, she was trying to decorate the fake
tree standing in the corner of the living room.
One of the main branches was missing; where could it have disappeared
to?
She guessed
she would have to somehow fill in the space, but with what? She could take a wire hanger and wrap green
tissue around it; attach it to the tree and hang ornaments on it. It was a longer task than she thought it
would be; cutting and tying the tissue strips on the hanger. At last finished, she hung it on the tree. Oh
no! She had no idea there were so many different
color greens; mint green for a branch of a dark green tree made it stand out
more than ever.
Time was
running out and she had to have dinner in the oven and get ready for caroling
at the nursing home within an hour. She started stirring up a casserole of
leftovers; hoping the pieces of chicken in the refrigerator weren’t too
old. The recipe called for sour cream
and she couldn’t find any. Cool whip had
the same consistency, so she stirred in half a container. It also called for beans, but she was out of
those too, so she chopped up a cup of dried prunes as a substitute. Adding the rest of the ingredients, she
stirred it all together and popped it in the oven. If anyone asked she would call it her
‘Surprise Casserole’.
Her family
sat down for dinner as she waved goodbye; ran out the door and jumped in the
car. A loud ‘ding, ding, ding’ made her
look at the gas gauge that was blinking to let her know she was on empty. She was already running behind and everyone
knows when it says ‘empty’ you can still drive a few miles. She only had a few miles to go, so she was sure she would
make it there and back.
When she
pulled off the ramp onto the highway, the engine started to sputter and she had
to pull off on the shoulder of the road.
Oh, no! She reached in her purse
for her cell phone and after frantically searching through it; she realized she
had forgot to bring it. What was happening to her; she was the person who
didn’t even go to the bathroom without her phone.
It was
turning dusk when a car pulled up beside and a man tapped on her window. She heard you never roll down your window if
a stranger approaches you stalled car.
Was he a mass murderer on the look out for a lone woman, or maybe he was
one of those who kidnapped people and sold them to be sex slaves.
He tapped
the window again and yelled, “Can I help you?”
He looked more like one of those homeless men sleeping in the streets. His worn jacket and a dark ski hat made up
for a picture of ‘scary’. She shook her
head no and gave him a half smile, hoping he didn’t see the fear in eyes. She waved and he waved back, got in his car
and drove off. She noticed his car was
newer than hers; it was probably stolen.
A few
minutes later another car pulled up and a young man tapped on her window. “Need some gas; I’ll go pick it up and put it
in for you, but I don’t have any money.”
Well, she
could roll the window down and slip a ten dollar bill through it. “Okay”, she nodded as she reached into her
purse and realized she hadn’t put her wallet in this one; she had grabbed wrong
purse by mistake. She waved him away and
he looked puzzled, but left. Now
what? He could have escaped from a
prison and was trying to get another car.
One thing
for sure, she was not getting out of this car unless she was taken out by
force. Just then, red lights flashing
and sirens blaring, two police cars pulled up; one in front and one in
back. They jumped out with guns drawn. One of the officers ordered her out of the
car, with her hands in the air. She was
so terrified that when she pushed the ‘unlock’ button, she passed out in the seat. As the swirling darkness washed over her, she
heard the sound of a gunshot and it was the last thing she remembered.
As she
started coming to, she could hear them still shooting; no, someone was
hammering. “Stop, stop!” she cried out. She
opened her eyes to see her husband came rushing in.
“What’s wrong,” he asked? “I’m just putting up the spruce tree; you
said you wanted a live one this year.”
I jumped
out of bed in a leap of joy. It wasn’t
real; I just had a nightmare. “Lord, thank you for waking me up to the truth,
Christmas should be a time of joy and peace; not a nightmare of chaos and
stress.” After all, she still had 24 days to enjoy preparing for Christmas.
Let’s celebrate
the Reason for the Season!
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