Sthnowman!

The picture here of my granddaughter Elania, was taken about five or six years ago. But every year about this time of the year I am reminded of Elania, and of this picture. You see at our house, as part of our decorating for the winter season, my wife brings out all of her snowmen decorations.

At the time of the picture, Elania held quite a fascination with snowmen and one in particular. At a time when you might expect a little girl to carry around a teddy bear or a doll, my granddaughter took a real liking to a snowman candle! That's right, a fairly large, heavy, wax candle that was shaped and decorated as a cute, smiling snowman.

Everywhere that she went throughout the house the snowman was close at hand. And if she ever misplaced him she would set off through the house looking for him and asking us over and over the one word question, "Sthnowman?", "Sthnowman?", with the cutest little distressed look on her face.

Elania carried the snowman for a very long time, dropping him frequently on our hardwood floors, until he was so dented, flattened and misshapen that he was hardly recognizable at all as a snowman.

So that's what she is holding so closely in the picture--her very favorite "Sthnowman!", or at least what was left of him!

But the truth is she never seemed to notice or mind his deformities. I guess that there's just nothing quite like the comforting warmth of cold wax!

A Basic Lesson in History

I think this is how it happened. It was a very long time ago, though, so no one can be sure.

There were these brothers who ruled the world. They were named, Sunny, Thirsty, Fiery, Money, and Two Stars (because his eyes shown like stars). All of them were very eligible bachelors (not that anyone would have been interested), except Two Stars who was married to Ness. Sunny was the eldest, but they ruled things together.

At that time, the capitol of the world was Tur. Always, on the last day of the week, they would sit down in Tur and make decisions--not that there were ever many decisions to be made. One day as they all sat in Tur, trying to decide what decisions they could make, a request came from a peasant that they should name the days of the week. Up until this time they had simply been numbered as the first, the second, and so on. Thirsty thought that this was a great idea because it would give them something to decide on, and they hated to sit in Tur all day and not make some sort of decision.

So they sat deciding on the names they would choose for the days of the week. Fiery suggested that they name them after themselves. Everyone agreed that would be easy enough. So they set about picking which name would go with each day. It only took them a few hours before they figured out that there were seven days in the week and there were only five brothers. So they would have to come up with two other names.

Money suggested that Two Star's wife Ness could have a day named after her, but they weren't sure how to decide which day until finally Thirsty suggested, "Why not on the fourth day, because that is the day that Two Stars wed Ness." Of course, they all agreed.

They named the other days in order of their ages. And so the days were named as follows:

The first day, Sunnyday.
The second day, Moneyday.
The third day, TwoStarsday.
The fourth day, WedNessday.
The fifth day, Thirstyday.
The sixth day, Fieryday.

That left only one day to be named. And so they sat in Tur for the rest of the day trying to figure out a good name for it. Finally, as the sun was going down, Sunny said, "We have sat in Tur all day and we still don't have a name!"

"That's it!" Fiery screamed as he jumped to his feet.

And so, the last day was named (you knew all along didn't you, you smart little thing you) SATURDAY!

And that's just how it happened. Well, it was something like that, I'm sure.

Jake-isms

I have a four year old grandson named Jacob. We usually just call him Jake, unless he is in some sort of trouble! Jake has an amazing mind and frequently comes out with some very intelligent statements. We have started calling them "Jake-isms."

Just this afternoon, my wife Nan was at Jake's house visiting. She told Jake that she was going to color his momma's hair.

So naturally, Jake said, "Can I help? I'm a good painter! I can color!"

Why Do I Care?

Take a look at the clock on the left. See anything wrong with this clock--I mean other than the obvious fact that the numbers seem to have fallen from the face of the clock!



An associate of my store brought this clock in. She thought it was funny and just wanted to share it with everyone. I took a look, smiled and before long noticed a problem.

Do you see it yet?

If you take a close look at the numbers in the bottom you will find that they are all represented, but there is an additional digit--a zero. Funny I don't ever remember looking at a clock and saying, "Oh, look! It's already zero past the hour!"

So now this clock really bothers me! I can't really explain why. I just can't seem to take the "WHO CARES !!!" advice.

But who cares!

Snuggles and Tuggles and the Really Great Day!

Creak . . . BANG!

Snuggles and Tuggles woke up with a jolt! “What was that ‘BANG!?!’ Who made that noise!?! What’s going on!?!” they barked wildly!

Billy was laughing at them as he stepped over to their cage and said,“Sorry about slamming the door guys, but I had my hands full with breakfast for everyone!”

“YIPEE! YAHOO!” Tuggles barked out with glee, while Snuggles just stretched out his legs, yawned, and rubbed his sleepy eyes. Everyone else was barking and meowing with excitement as Billy made his way around the store. He made sure each cage was clean and that everybody got fed.

Just then Mr. Hanson came in with a grin and with a warm, deep voice called out, “Good morning to all! Today is going to be a really GREAT day!” He always said that before he raised the blinds and hung the “OPEN” sign in the window of “HANSON AND SON’S PET SHOP.”

Snuggles looked out the window and into the street. It did look like a GREAT day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and people were smiling and laughing as they hurried off to work.

Mr. Hanson came over to where Snuggles and Tuggles were just finishing breakfast. “Well guys, today is the big day for one of you,” he said. “The Thompsons will be here soon so Tommy can pick out his birthday puppy!” Snuggles and Tuggles just looked at him shocked and confused.

For all of their lives they had never been apart from each other and now Mr. Hanson was saying that one of them was going away! That just didn’t seem right. How could this be? Snuggles moved a little closer to Tuggles as Mr. Hanson went back to his work. Tuggles didn’t even seem to mind very much that Snuggles lay his head on his tummy. Both of them were very quiet, and very still, and very scared of just what might happen next.

Tuggles looked up just as the front door flew open and little Tommy Thompson bounded into the shop. He was so excited as he moved around the shop looking for the puppies. Tommy gasped and his mouth fell open when he spotted Tuggles across the store. At first, neither one of them moved. But as Tommy started to walk over to him, Tuggles began to slowly wag his tail.

Snuggles was also carefully watching Tommy, but he did not move at all.

Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were just coming in the door when Tommy exclaimed, “Look at this one! He’s perfect!” Mr. Hanson chuckled softly and said, “Well, let me get him out for you and you two can get acquainted.” So Tuggles and Tommy played together while Snuggles sadly looked on.

Tuggles tugged at Tommy’s shoe laces as Tommy giggled and grinned. Tuggles was having more fun than he had ever had before just rolling around on the old wooden floor of the shop and listening to his new friend laughing. He had forgotten what Tommy’s visit to the shop meant for him and his brother.

But poor Snuggles hadn’t forgotten and his little heart was breaking to think that this might be the last time that he would see his brother. What would he do without Tuggles around? Who could he snuggle then?

Snuggles began to quietly whimper and cry. Just then Tommy heard him and stopped laughing. He looked up at Snuggles. Mr. Hanson had seen what was going on and without a word went over to Snuggles and gently lifted him from his cage and handed him to Tommy.

As Tuggles kept on rolling around at Tommy’s feet, Snuggles snuggled into the warmth of Tommy’s arms. He looked up at Tommy and licked his chin. Tommy smiled and softly stroked Snuggles head. “How wonderful for Tuggles to be going home with such a nice boy,” thought Snuggles. But still he was very sad that he was losing his brother.

“Tommy, your Uncle John sent you a birthday present, too,” said Mr. Thompson. “He asked me to give it to you once we got down here to the pet shop.”

With that Mr. Thompson pulled out a nicely wrapped, small long box and handed it to his son. Billy tore into the wrapping and opened the box and found a brand new red puppy collar! “Wow! This is great!” shouted Billy.

“So now all you have to do is put it on the puppy that you want to take home, and he’s all yours!” said Mr. Thompson with a smile.

Suddenly, Tommy got very quiet as he thought to himself, “How can I choose only one of them when both of them are special in their own way.”

Seeing that there must be a problem, Mr. Thompson asked, “What’s wrong son? Don’t you want to get a puppy?”

“Oh, no Dad. That’s not it at all! Tommy replied. “I just don’t know how to pick just one. I like them both. Couldn’t we just buy both of them?”

“Well, I’m afraid not, son,” he said. “Your mother and I can’t afford to buy you two puppies!”
Tommy thought for a very long time then said, “What if you and Mom bought me one puppy and I paid for the other one?”

“Now you know you don’t have that much money,” answered Mrs. Thompson, “even with the birthday money you got from Aunt Sarah.”

“I’ll just have to find a job, or something!” Tommy insisted.

Tommy’s mom just shrugged her shoulders and looked at her husband, “Now what do we do? He is just a little kid. How is he going to be able to get a job?”

About that time Mr. Hanson walked over to Mr. and Mrs. Thompson and began whispering something to them that Tommy couldn’t quite hear. After a long discussion, Mr. Hanson turned to Tommy and said, “I understand from your mom and dad that you are looking for a job. Well, it just so happens that I’m looking for a boy to help Billy in the afternoons with cleaning up the shop. Do you think you might be able to come by after school for a couple hours each day?”

As you can imagine, Tommy said, “YES!” And so it was all arranged. As soon as school was over he would report to the pet store and go to work earning the money to buy the other puppy. But because Tommy didn’t want to separate the two puppies, Mr. Hanson agreed to let Tommy keep the puppy that his parents had paid for at the shop.

Mr. Hanson had warned him though, that if someone came in to buy a puppy before Tommy had earned enough money, he was going to have to sell it to them. He told Tommy to put the red puppy collar on the one he liked the most so that he wouldn’t sell the one that was already paid for.

Tommy had a hard time deciding what to do, because he didn’t want either one of them to be sold. Finally, he decided to put the collar on Tuggles, because he was the first one that Tommy had seen. “But don’t worry, Snuggles, you get to wear it tomorrow,” he said. And so each day he would switch the collar to the other puppy, so neither one of them felt left out.

Day after day Tommy would run to the shop after school and go straight to Snuggles and Tuggles to make sure they were both still there. Then he would go right to work, because the sooner he got done, the sooner he would be able to sit on the floor and play with the puppies, while he waited for his mom to come and pick him up for supper.

Day after day people came into the shop to look at the puppies. Sometimes they would be interested in buying one. Sometimes it was Snuggles, because he was soft and snuggly, and sometimes it was Tuggles, because he was fun and playful. But whenever Mr. Hanson would look at the one they wanted to buy, it always seemed to be the one that had the red collar on and so Mr. Hanson had to tell them, “I’m sorry, but that one is already sold.”

Then one day as Tommy was just finishing up his work, a lady came in to look at the puppies. She told Mr. Hanson that she was looking for a quiet, peaceful, little puppy to keep her company. Tommy looked over at Snuggles and thought, “OH NO! Snuggles doesn’t have the collar on today!”

But it was too late. Mr. Hanson was already handing Snuggles to the lady so they could get acquainted. Snuggles shivered, not because he was cold, but because he was scared.

“Excuse me, Mr. Hanson,” said Billy quickly, “I’m all done!”

“And so you are, Tommy, and in record time!” replied Mr. Hanson. He then popped open the cash drawer and pulled out Tommy’s pay for the day.

“Thanks, Mr. Hanson,” Tommy said, and added, “I’d like to see if I have enough to buy my puppy now.” And so Tommy got out his back pack and began to pull out dollar bills and change from every compartment there was and place it on the counter in front of Mr. Hanson. Mr. Hanson sorted and counted as Tommy kept a worried eye on Snuggles and the lady.

Mr. Hanson sighed, “I’m sorry Tommy, you still don’t have quite enough for the price of the puppy.” Tommy’s heart sank as the lady moved toward the counter with Snuggles in hand.

Just then Billy stepped up and whispered something in his dad’s ear. “Oh, that’s right Billy, I didn’t figure in the discount that Tommy gets for being an employee here! With your discount you will have just enough and $4.41 left over!”

“I’ll take it!” shouted Tommy, “And I’ll take that red puppy collar, too, please!”

As the lady arrived at the counter and was about to say she wanted to buy Snuggles, Mr. Hanson, smiled and said, “I’m so sorry, but that puppy has just been sold.”

“YES!” barked Tuggles from across the room.

With that Snuggles jumped from the lady’s arms straight for Tommy. Tommy just managed to catch him and a very relieved Snuggles snuggled into his arms and licked his chin.

Everybody laughed and smiled that day as Tommy sat on the floor and played with his puppies, because they could all see that this is how it was meant to be! This truly was a really GREAT day!