Counting Down-12 Days ‘til Christmas

12 Drummers Drumming 

Come (shop) they told me, pa rum pum pum pum…well the song does mention a gift just not the kind you can order from Amazon.com. As stores try to drum up business, I am trying not to get snared into the maddening crowd of last minute shoppers. On the outside I look totally prepared for Christmas. Our signature lighted candy canes line the front walk. One has a broken stake so, yes, it is leaning on a little red plastic lawn chair. Red is a Christmas color, right? In the house the grandkids put up and decorated the tree. They've taken turns wearing my springy Santa hat. They've eaten most of the first wave of candy canes so I will have to break out the box I held in reserve soon. The red, green, and white Christmas afghan I crocheted last year is on the back of the loveseat, unless Fred (our dog-not elf) has pulled it down for napping purposes. Both leaves are still in place on the dining room table and there is a peppermint candle burning brightly in the center.  There’s a wintry jigsaw puzzle on a big piece of green felt on the coffee table surrounded by two wing chairs, an ottoman and a piano bench, the latter two items retrieved from Poppa’s office on the other side of the house so a bunch of people can puzzle together. The flat edged pieces have all been sorted so the frame is beginning to take shape. My granddaughter Julie spray painted a bunch of pine cones gathered from our front yard gold and tucked them in the fireplace around a grouping of battery operated pillar candles that actually flicker and look amazingly like lit with a match candles. On the inside I could say, “Bah Drumbug!” But despite the fact I often find myself following the beat of a different drum, this is the time I let the beat of Christmas carols (actual lyrics, not improvisations) and the spirit of the season fill my heart with peace and joy.