There are two types of gift-givers… those who give you what they think you should have and those who seem to know exactly what you would love. Try as I might, I am afraid I fall into the first category, (but am very fortunate to have someone in my life who is in the second). However, this season, I have come up with a few guidelines to help any gift-giver (or me) give a better gift!

“Life is composed of meetings and partings…” This week Bob Cratchit, in the form of Kermit the Frog, reminded me of the powerful cycle of life and death. An easy reminder in mid-December, right? Nightfall crashes down by 4:00 p.m. and darkness like a despotic tyrant rules the whole hidden realm beyond my frosty pane until the late dawn breaks over the mountaintops beyond my fields. Luckily, we humans find recourse for this blackout. Households everywhere attack back by abandoning their sense of decorum and going bonkers, displaying blowup snow-globes and lit wire-nodding reindeer, even nativity clusters complete with plaster sheep and wise-men, all strewn across once well-manicured lawns. And not stopping there you even see rainbow lights cascading recklessly over rooftops. Undoubtedly, you can name at least one neighbor who challenges life and limb by dragging a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer up his ladder to dizzy heights. Antics aside, these holiday extravaganzas to the well-placed elegant strands of lit garlands around doorways are all a welcome relief from the cheerless black of December nights. 

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