Giving Thanks!

As we were leaving our son's house after a wonderful Thanksgiving family gathering, something on the table caught my eye. Red and shiny, it was the little mask that was part of a cape set I had brought our little grandson, Isaac, just turned three, for his birthday! He had had so much fun wearing it, and exclaiming, "Where my 'gasses'?" when he misplaced it. His family had already left, so I picked the toy up and brought it home to mail to him.

I could see he received it when he showed up sporting it on Facebook yesterday! Then his father sent a video to my phone of Isaac tearing through the house in the red mask. When he saw the FB picture, he had remarked, "Me 'Pider-Man'!"

How we had enjoyed him and the other grandchildren on this trip, especially when we visited the picturesque, historic square of Georgetown, a place that looked like the setting for a Hallmark Christmas movie! Isaac had loved the little old-fashioned toy store with its educational, wooden toys. We could hardly pull him away from a roller-coaster type track where he never tired of placing a marble and watching it roll down the circuitous route.

Our hostess and daughter-in-law, Rhonda, told us of a more modern shopping mall not far from there where an outdoor fireplace was built into the wall of a store complex with rocking chairs out front! That's where Howard spent most of his time with various men-folk of the family, while "us girls" shopped till we dropped!

We were filling time waiting for 5:30 when the lighting of the square was scheduled. Our group was ambling along behind the others toward the courthouse where the festivities would begin. Foot traffic was increasing, and as we drew closer, we saw Mark and Rhonda sitting on a bench, covered up with a patchwork quilt, saving us a place! Did we get smiles and remarks as people passed: "Can we sit with you?" "What a good idea!" "Aw, it's not that cold!"

But it was cold, and at last the ceremony started with Christmas songs. Jolly at first, they were followed by the joyous Christmas hymns, the air filled with the strains of "Silent Night," "Away in a Manger," and others. Then the night world lit up brilliantly as Santa pulled the switch, and every tree, branch and building was outlined in illumination! We carried these memories back on our long trip home to Oklahoma, ready to begin the Christmas season!