If I’ve been suspiciously missing this week, it’s because 1) I needed to start/finish shopping for out-of-town family and 2) I needed to mail everything out to said family and 3) I wanted to start baking cookies.  But in the meantime, I haven’t forgotten my blogging duties.  On the contrary, I’ve been storing up ideas for just this occasion.  Let me tell you a few stories from this past week that will cheer your soul.

Gas and Ice
So Mae was sick this week, the week of the school play.  She’d been up late for several days due to rehearsals.  I’d hardly seen her. On Tuesday, she called from school to say she’d be coming home for the rest of the day.  I tell the secretary it’s okay and hang up.  A few minutes later, the phone rings.  It’s Mae; she’s almost in tears.  She has stopped for gas but can’t get the little door open that leads to the gas cap; it’s frozen shut.  I don’t have my car, so I tell her to go inside and ask someone to help her. 

Once she’s home, she tells me that there was an elderly man working there; tells me he brought a screwdriver, tried to pry the door open while she pulled on the little button on the inside.  We sit at the kitchen table and discuss what we can do to thank the man. Then we sit and talk some more. Seems like we haven’t talked in weeks.  It’s a good talk.

The Shopping Thing
On to Wednesday: shopping day.  I was anticipating it to be a nightmare, but then, I wasn’t buying much this year.  So it ended up being pretty painless, if you don’t count the parking lot crazy drivers.  I got it done, got everything wrapped and ready to go.  Which brings me to Thursday morning, the highlight of my week.

Coffee, Snow & Shipping
I didn’t have a shipping box that fit, so I just put the gifts on the front seat and headed out. I still needed a few Starbucks gift cards, so I stopped in there.  The clerk asked me if I had finished with my shopping. (She must have noticed that satisfied look on my face.) “I just have one more thing to get,” I told her.  She asks me what it is, so I tell her.  She says, “Oh, my husband has one of those.  It’s made by blah, blah, and you want to get blah, blah, blah… I could not believe it; I had gone in for one gift and received an answer about one I was stuck on. Of course, I left with a little something for me. In the meantime, it had started snowing.  I was driving to my next destination, singing along with Christmas songs on the radio and trying to write a Christmas poem in my head; or an Ode to Snow, as it was turning out to be. 

Next stop: the post office.  I walk in with an armful of wrapped gifts and find a long, low box that fits perfectly. I forget to bring my own clear tape, so I have to pick up one of those, too.  Well, it’s so hard to use that I keep nicking my fingers.  (So Mom, if you’re wondering what those red spots are on the box, they’re not Christmas doodles.)  Finally, I get the box stuffed, taped; find another box to mail the CD to my contest winner, and then I’m in line…and done in under five minutes.  What?!  How is that even possible at noon on the week before Christmas?  I’m beginning to think that Christmas miracles are happening here.

Laughing Gas
So now I’ve accomplished everything I needed to and I’m feeling pretty good.  I’m still having fun with the poem as I’m driving, and it’s still snowing. It’s just beautiful, like being in another world.  But then, I realize the gas tank is empty, so I pull into the gas station.  Before I even get out of the car, I am laughing because of the truck that has pulled in across from me.  It’s for a business called Pet Butler. The entire truck is one of those speciality ads, with pictures and quotes all over it.  Here’s where it gets funny.  (FringeGirl is going to like this.)

First I read:  Got Poop?  We scoop!
And then these:  Your pet’s “business” is our business!
“Picking up where your dog left off…since 1988.”
Call the “entre-manure”
#1in the #2 business

So now I’m pumping gas and having a good laugh, while the snow lands in my hair, sticks to my lashes.  It’s just one of those magical days where everything seems to fall into place, just like…the snow.  (I bet you thought I was going to say something else.)

Lost Poem
I’m sorry to say that while I was thinking of the poem, I did not write it down or think to record it.  And honestly, I think it’s lost forever; probably in the same place where I put the shopping receipts.  They’re in an envelope marked Christmas, in case you happen to find one in your mailbox.  Now that really would be a Christmas miracle.

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