Serve by Design

It was a day or two before Thanksgiving that our oldest granddaughter, Chloe, popped the question, "Poppi, when are you decorating your Christmas tree?" This grand is always jazzed about Christmas! Each year, since she was a little girl, Chloe Michelle has helped her Mimi and me with Christmas decorating. If you knew that she already had her room decorations up on November 1st, you can imagine that she was more than a little anxious to help her grandparents "catch up" to the Christmas Season! Inspecting Charlie's Gingerbread House! I am a stickler about not putting up our decorations until Thanksgiving Day is over. Although I enjoy the ambience of a well-decorated family room with a beautifully lighted tree adorned with keepsake ornaments, garlands and red bows above the entry ways, and greenery threaded with red stringed beads on the mantle, I don't like to hurry into Christmas! So, Friday or Saturday after "Turkey Day" is soon enough for me! It w...

This past weekend, we have been dealing with our first snowfall of the season. It has been a heavy, wet snow that has steadily blanketed our village with an impressive eight and a half inches of accumulated snow. The day before, on Friday, our granddaughter, Chloe, helped us put the ornaments on the tree and then we did some last-minute grocery shopping. It was the calm before the storm, and we were getting prepared should we be snowed in for the weekend! Image credit: www.freepik.com On Saturday, as the snow began falling, Monique and I sat comfortably in the family room admiring our Christmas decorations. The lights on the tree and mantle were having their usual seasonal effect. It was just after one o’clock as I was entering a hypnotic state and was almost asleep when the first of two back-to-back thunderous claps jolted me fully awake. Monique was startled as well and exclaimed, “WHAT…WAS… THAT?” While still processing what I had heard, I tentatively replied, “That was thunder! But...