Naughty or Nice (True Confessions)

Jim Shore figurines

With tongue-in-cheek but a certain amount of seriousness, I share from my world in this Christmas season. 

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This is a tense time of year for many of us as we review the past year and wonder, just where do we stand with Santa Claus? My observations of others (and yes, myself) are culminating in today's blog post. Proceed cautiously -- you may see yourself here if you read between the lines!

Grandchild Number 6 

Beginning on a positive note, one of my many grandchildren sent me a text recently stating that he'd like to meet up with me, just the two of us, to catch up. Is there anything better to thrill a Grammy's heart than to get a message like that?! To get here he paid freeway tolls, navigated weekend traffic, and arrived exactly in the agreed-upon time frame. After a visit with Gary, Grandson and I left for brunch at a nearby grill and had a wonderful visit. This, of course, puts him on the Nice List!

Daisy (left) and Maggie (right)

To counter-balance that event, we received news early yesterday that Sister's two Basset Hounds had taken top billing on the Naughty List.
The usual routine with these girls is to be let outside while Sister and hubby get themselves ready to face the day. When it was time to bring them back indoors, not only were they not waiting at the door, but the gate was open. They had apparently vanished in the pre-dawn darkness.

A degree of panic ensued until neighbor dog, Lucy, spied them while she was on her morning constitutional. The joyful gathering of canines was cut short when Lucy's owner took Daisy and Maggie back to their home. Sister had to alter her morning plans to give the two miscreants baths. Yes. They are on the Naughty List.

walk-in tub, master bathroom

To be fair, I should be humble enough to tattle on myself. I'll begin with the admission that one of the appealing facts about Gary is that he has a lot of what I'll phrase as "senior citizen luxuries" in this house. Age and physical requirements have prompted him over the years to install low-threshold showers in both bathrooms, a number of well-placed grab bars, commode assist stands, a wheel chair, and night lights for nocturnal bathroom trips, to name a few. But the piece d'resistance is the walk-in tub. 

I have enjoyed using this last luxury several times but have to admit the mechanism to lock the door requires muscle strength I don't have. Gary has always taken care of that for me but a month or so ago I deviated from that habit. He was watching football and I decided I should show some initiative (and muscle!) by locking it myself. 

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Mere words cannot express what a mistake that was. While watching the water rise in the tub, all seemed fine until all of a sudden the door popped open and a true Old Testament-type flood gushed all over the bathroom floor, onto the master bedroom carpet in one direction, onto the closet carpet in the opposite direction, water encircled the toilet in the water closet, and later that evening we discovered water had crept under the wall shared with the guest room! All I could do was to watch in horror and scream for Gary to come!

I was elevated to the very top of the Naughty List! Yes, instructions for using the walk-in tub were reviewed (putting it nicely) and I vowed to both myself and my dear one that this event would not ever be repeated. Necessary assistance would be sought from there on out!

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While the above black T-shirt applies to my disaster, I have thought about getting one for Gary. But the man seldom messes up! I mean, I can't think of anything he's done amiss that is blog-worthy (with the exception that he says I kick him out of bed too early every morning). 

in our neighborhood

Some of my readers may remember that last Christmas I spied the Grinch hiding in a tree as we pedaled past on our bicycles. He's back again this year, dangling a red ornament that a bike rider would be wise to swerve around, to avoid a collision. I think that mischievous act puts him on the Naughty List (but that's no surprise to anybody).

blogging from the dining room table

As for payment for misbehavior, the above is a snapshot of my office this afternoon. We called in a carpet cleaner to deal with a particularly stubborn stain as a result of the flood and to deal with a couple of unrelated spots in another room. Since the carpet was going to need time to dry, I had to move to the dining room table to do my bookkeeping, correspondence, and computer work. Gary has long since got over my lack of good judgment. This minor inconvenience of working at the dining table is temporary at best but is also a reminder for me to ask for help when needed.

As I draw this post to a close, I am reminded of the fact that we all mess up. It is a fact of life and to deny that is to lie to oneself. We all need to be forgiven. 

the lantern on our porch

And that brings me to the point of Christmas. We are all on the Naughty List. We all mess up. We all need someone to "pay the bill," so to speak, for our misdeeds. We are unable to do that for ourselves. Jesus came to do that for us, as well as to illustrate in human form the character of God Himself. That is what Christmas is all about. 

Bonnie's house

Until next time, grace, peace, and joy.