Merry Christmas To You!

Way back in the 1950s, my mother was friends with the editor of our small town newspaper. For reasons I don't know, he decided to make a photo of me and my sister with Santa just before the Christmas parade started. I was five. My sister was three and not a fan of Santa at all at that point. She wanted no part of this photo shoot. So it was just me and Santa.

I don't know if there was a plan when the photo was made, or if the idea came later. But the newspaper editor made a huge print of that photo and used it for a Christmas decoration in the window of the newspaper office. After a year or two, he gave that giant photo to my mother. And of course, it passed on to me later.

Years ago, to tease me, Daddy-O put it out as part of our decoration. It's a tradition now. A few days before Christmas, he hauls Santa and me up from the basement and puts us on an easel.

So when we see this photograph, we know Christmas is almost here. The tree has been decorated. That gifts are wrapped. The family is all tucked in here at the farm. The music has been rehearsed. (Mommy and Big Sister are singing at the Christmas Eve service, with me accompanying them.) Little Sister just put her list for Santa on the hearth. ("So he will see it first thing when he comes down the chimney.") All the crazy preparation is over. All the work is done. And now we wait.

It is time to close the lid on this computer and focus on the faces in front of me for the next few days. I hope your celebration, whether big or small, brings you joy.

Merry Christmas 

from all of us at the farm

to you!