The 12 days of Christmas

December 13:  About 7 pm, the doorbell rang.  When I went to answer it, there was a chocolate pie wrapped up in pretty paper sitting on our front porch.  The tag on it said "On the 1st day of Christmas: Just a "holiday Hi" and a tasty pie. Happy Holidays!"  About an hour later, the doorbell rang again.  There sits a mini pine tree with little red bows all over it.  The little card attached said "On the first day of Christmas a present for you to see, bells and gifts and ornaments on a lovely little tree."

Oh so cool!  Wonder if we are getting something for the next 11 nights? Wonder who it is?  Wonder what we are getting.

Oh so cool.  What a neat way to help us get through the days leading up to a very hard Christmas-a 'first'.

December 14: Yup.  There were more presents.  "On the 2nd day of Christmas: wishing you a sparkling holiday season" and it was a bottle of red sparkling grape juice.  And the other "elf" (as we came to call them) brought some homemade wassail "On the second day of Christmas have some wassail, relax and reason, that Jesus Christ our Savior is why we celebrate this season."  But boy, someone left a LARGE footprint.  Hmmmm.

December 15: Now we are looking for them each night.  Wanting to catch them; but not wanting to catch them.   This time it was a pretty candle "On the 3rd day of Christmas in case your Christmas isn't bright, here is a little candle light."  And some homemade chocolate covered pretzels "On the third day of Christmas we share with you a treat, as we celebrate our Savior's birth some chocolate pretzels for you to eat."

December 16: I stand at the peep hole in the door looking for them.  But I miss them!  Elf #1 brings a roll of cookie dough "On the 4th day of Christmas everyone needs a little extra "dough" for Christmas" and Elf #2 brought another pretty candle "On the fourth day of Christmas a candle we do bear; let your light shine for Jesus, tell people everywhere."

December 17: "On the 5th day of Christmas what could be more merry than a chocolate covered cherry."  (Hopefully you can figure that one out)   and "On the fifth day of Christmas some Coke made with cherry; to help celebrate the Christ Child born of the Virgin Mary." (a 2L of Coke and a jar of maraschino cherries)

December 18: "On the 6th day of Christmas short bread cookies in a tin, as we hear about the Savior's birth the Christmas story to begin."   (Yummo!)  "On the 6th day of Christmas banana bread just for you, because you have so much to do."  (Haven't tried it yet; but I'm sure it's good)

December 19: "On the 7th day of Christmas an ornament for your tree; God in person has come to earth, our Savior He will be."  and "On the 7th day of Christmas may the joy and love you give away, come back to you on Christmas day."  They were both pretty ornaments; unfortunately the one that says joy fell and shattered as I was putting Christmas decorations.

December 20: "On the 8th day of Christmas it's hot chocolate to drink, as we warm our hearts with memories so upon this season we can drink."  Along with the actual mix was the recipe to make it if I wanted to make it some other time.  I actually tried it and it's pretty good.  And the other elf brought a CD of Christmas music "On the 8th day of Christmas may the sweet song of Christmas make your heart rejoice."  I love me some Christmas music!

December 21: "On the 9th day of Christmas have some peanuts for a snack.  We hope you haven't caught us yet as we turn to your house and back."  NO WE HAVEN'T CAUGHT YOU YET!  (It was a jar of honey roasted peanuts)  And the other "On the 9th day of Christmas hope your holidays are "poppin" with fun!" NO WE HAVEN'T CAUGHT THEM YET EITHER!  (This was a box of Fiddle Faddle, which I've never had before)

December 22: "On the 10th day of Christmas we're bringing you some candy; because we think your family is pretty fine and dandy."  It's a box of ribbon candy.  "On the 10th day of Christmas Remember Santa "chex" his list twice to see who's been naughty or nice."  A bag of chocolate chex mix--again something I've never had.

December 23: Daddy had off this day, Friday.  One of the presents came around noon--AND WE STILL DIDN'T CATCH THEM!  "On the 11th day of Christmas we leave for you some cheese.  Place it between some crackers and eat it as you please."  I love cheese and crackers (and they were butter Ritz crackers-the yummiest)  The other came that evening and the note with it was my absolute favorite!  "On the 11th day of Christmas Merry Christmas!  Here are some Pringles and just be glad you don't have the Shingles! (I think we are running out of ideas!)  Made me laugh!  I've since talked to the person who did this and she said she couldn't think of something to rhyme with Pringles, but now can come up with 2 or 3 things she could have used.  Isn't that the way it goes?

Saturday night December 24, we were at dinner at J&T's house.  She made us a good turkey dinner.  We were almost done with dessert when my phone rang.  It was my friend M.  She wanted to know when we be home.  She has a little something for me. (She had tried Daddy's phone and tried texting me too)  So about an hour later, I texted her to let her know we were on our way home.  About 30 minutes after we got home, the doorbell rang.  There was M and HER WHOLE FAMILY (well just about) singing to us.  There were 12 out there.  I invited them in; they wanted to see my dog.  As they came in, M handed me some cookies and hot chocolate.  I thought: "It was them!"  But alas, no; it wasn't.  But thankfully the note that was attached told us who it was.  It was my Preacher and his family. (Remember the large footprint?)  After everyone left the next elf came and left a tin of all sorts of homemade goodies and thankfully also told us who they were.  (She was the kids swim teacher from the summer.  It was her family.  She has 2 kids who I have babysat in the past.  The oldest boy is C's age and the youngest, a girl, was close to K's age)

 Let me tell you, this was one of the best things that could have happened to us right before Christmas.  I don't think I could ever thank either one of those families enough.  It was such a hard Christmas, made a little sweeter knowing there are friends out there that are still thinking of us.  I miss my girl.

PS:  Be on the look out for little elves.  There are at least 3 people that are planning on being "copy cats" next year.