Ding-dong Goes the Bell..

Sunday night, at about 8:30 p.m., our doorbell rang. This is pretty unusual. On the one hand, almost everyone who knows us, just taps on the door and walks right on in (yeah, we keep it unlocked usually. Probably not the safest thing, but I have 3 dogs who alert me if something’s up). On the other hand, those folks who do know us know that Ted tries to get to bed before that because during the week, he has to leave for work at 3:30 a.m. Not a typo. Three. Thirty. A. M. The good news is he’s home right after normal people eat lunch.

But I’m digressing. My doorbell rang. We all were startled. Claire, aka “la femme Cujo,” was especially indignant that the bell rang at what around here is a pretty late night. When the kids opened the door, there was a card and a pretty Christmas door mat. The card wasn’t signed, but it said “On the First Day of Christmas,” in handwriting that looked like someone was trying to disguise it. I counted...yep...12 days from Sunday and we're there….

Then last night, Monday, we had a pretty wild snowstorm. I whined and whimpered enough to get out of driving to a staff meeting. It snowed so much that by 8 p.m. last night they delayed school for 2 hours. And then cancelled this morning. At around 6:30 p.m. last night, Tanner was standing near the door watching the snow fall. And a little boy who he didn’t recognize came up to the door and rang the bell while putting his finger over his lips in the universal sign language for “SHH!!” The gift from last night was a bottle of apple cider and some mulling spice. The 2nd Day of Christmas...in Jesus' love.

I quick sent a text to the person I thought was responsible: my boss’ wife, who also happens to be my pastor’s wife. She has the sneakiness factor (the whole tp’ing incident was her idea) and the means—she teaches 3rd grade, so has access to a number of little boys that we wouldn’t recognize. She had no idea what I was talking about. But said that she WISHED the idea was hers.

So, we’re snowpacked and icy. Yes, I know that 5” is not a lot of snow to many of you. But ice is ice, and if it’s on the road just ½” thick or ½’ thick, it’s still slick, and everything around here is pretty much shut down for the day. So we’re wondering if our secret Santa will be like a postman and make his or her appointed rounds. This is so much fun…stay tuned and we’ll let you know what happens!