Conversation – 15

Cherie,

I bake this weekend. I have much to do. I am currently on a break and I am enjoying
a hot cup of coffee.

Hubby is at work and son is coming home. You will not believe my tree. I got lucky last
year and went to an Estate sell and brought vintage crystal ornaments.♥

Hey don’t work too hard and yes I have huge comforters that sometimes if I wash it
all at once with others I do have to go and have them laundry.

You have to admit it’s a happy time now don’t forget about those movies when the
time is right. Here is a little something while you work. ♥

Merry Christmas Cherie♥

Hi Sheba … It’s 2 a.m. and finally it gets to about 45 degrees (still no snow)! Thank You for the stories Sheba. My house looks like a bomb went off! I got so far behind on laundry we actually went to the laundry mat to wash and drop off dry cleaning clothe!! We had about 8 machines going of rugs, blankets, towels. huge stuffed animals .. ect. EVERYTHING is clean … now It all has to be put away! It’s almost here … 5 Days!! We start baking soon so .. I can’t stuff things in the stove or under the sofa cause company comes this week-end!!! What was that NOSE-TWITCHING trick you were going to teach me Sheba …. Night-Nite Sheba♥ … Night ALL

I AM TAKEING MY VITAMINS JUST TO KEEP UP WITH MYSELF LOL.

I AM READY FOR LUNCH .

KITTIES ARE SO CUTE .GLAMOR KITTIES OF KANSAS.

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

There was clearly nothing left to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the look-out for the mendicancy squad.

In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name “Mr. James Dillingham Young.”

The “Dillingham” had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per week. Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, the letters of “Dillingham” looked blurred, as though they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called “Jim” and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Della. Which is all very good.

Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out dully at a grey cat walking a grey fence in a grey backyard. To-morrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn’t go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling–something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honour of being owned by Jim.

There was a pier-glass between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have seen a pier-glass in an $8 Bat. A very thin and very agile person may, by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks. Della, being slender, had mastered the art.

Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass. Her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its colour within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.

Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim’s gold watch that had been his father’s and his grandfather’s. The other was Della’s hair. Had the Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out of the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty’s jewels and gifts. Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled up in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his beard from envy.

So now Della’s beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.

On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she cluttered out of the door and down the stairs to the street.

Where she stopped the sign read: “Mme Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds.” One Eight up Della ran, and collected herself, panting. Madame, large, too white, chilly, hardly looked the “Sofronie.”

“Will you buy my hair?” asked Della.

“I buy hair,” said Madame. “Take yer hat off and let’s have a sight at the looks of it.”

Down rippled the brown cascade.

“Twenty dollars,” said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand.

“Give it to me quick” said Della.

Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor. She was ransacking the stores for Jim’s present.

She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation–as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim’s. It was like him. Quietness and value–the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the 78 cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the old leather strap that he used in place of a chain.

When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason. She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task dear friends–a mammoth task.

Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully, and critically.

“If Jim doesn’t kill me,” she said to herself, “before he takes a second look at me, he’ll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do–oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?”

At 7 o’clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops.

Jim was never late. Della doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his step on the stair away down on the first flight, and she turned white for just a moment. She had a habit of saying little silent prayers about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: “Please, God, make him think I am still pretty.”

The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two–and to be burdened with a family! He needed a new overcoat and he was with out gloves.

Jim stepped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face.

Della wriggled off the table and went for him.

“Jim, darling,” she cried, “don’t look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn’t have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It’ll grow out again–you won’t mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say ‘Merry Christmas!’ Jim, and let’s be happy. You don’t know what a nice-what a beautiful, nice gift I’ve got for you.”

“You’ve cut off your hair?” asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet, even after the hardest mental labour.

“Cut it off and sold it,” said Della. “Don’t you like me just as well, anyhow? I’m me without my hair, ain’t I?”

Jim looked about the room curiously.

“You say your hair is gone?” he said, with an air almost of idiocy.

“You needn’t look for it,” said Della. “It’s sold, I tell you–sold and gone, too. It’s Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered,” she went on with a sudden serious sweetness, “but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?”

Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della. For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year–what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion will be illuminated later on.

Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table.

“Don’t make any mistake, Dell,” he said, “about me. I don’t think there’s anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you’ll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first.”

White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat.

For there lay The Combs–the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped for long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise-shell, with jewelled rims–just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone.

But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: “My hair grows so fast, Jim!”

And then Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, “Oh, oh!”

Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit.

“Isn’t it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You’ll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it.”

Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled.

“Dell,” said he, “let’s put our Christmas presents away and keep ’em a while. They’re too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on.”

The magi, as you know, were wise men–wonderfully wise men-who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.

Ladies I hope your families enjoy these stories. I know I do. Cherie and Meme I am
making them shorter. LOL!

This great for when they go to bed. I enjoy doing these this time of year. I always try
to post one with a story about the true meaning of Christmas. ♥

Cherie real surprise you have never seen The Sound Of Music. Also, It’s A Wonderful Life.
When time permits maybe after the holidays take a little time and enjoy these classics.

You will feel like a child again. Right now I know you are doing a million things we all are. 🙂

I do hope the kids are having a wonderful time. Glad you found the Ant Farm.

Loaf you are the world’s best Grammy I did post some things to you a couple pages back. You know this
thread runs fast. LOL!

Taci I hope you can get your hiking into your very busy schedule.♥

The Little Christmas Star

Of all the stars that shine in the sky, there had always been one that was brighter and more beautiful than the others. The whole sky’s planets and stars looked on in admiration, wondering what could be the important mission that this star was to carry out. And the star itself did exactly the same, aware of its own incomparable beauty.

The speculation ended when a group of angels came to the star:

-“Hurry. Your time has arrived, the Lord calls upon you to carry out an important mission.”

And the star went as fast as he could and found out that her mission was to show where the most important event in history would take place.
The star was filled with pride, and dressed herself in her most beautiful costume of glint and bedazzlement. She proceeded to follow the angels, who would show her the right place. The star shone with such strength and beauty that she was seen from all parts of the World, and so much so that a group of wise men decided to follow her, knowing that she must be pointing to something important.

For days, the star followed the angels, showing the way, and she was eager to discover what place she was going to illuminate. However, when the angels stopped, and with great joy said “Here it is!” the star could not believe it. There were no palaces, no castles or mansions, no gold or jewels. Only a small, half-abandoned, dirty, smelly stable.

-“Oh, no! Not that! I can not waste my shine and beauty lighting up a place like this! I was born for something greater than this!”

And though the angels tried to calm her, the star’s fury grew and grew, and so much pride and arrogance bubbled up inside her that she began to burn. And thus she consumed herself and disappeared.

Well, what a problem! There were only a few days left before the big moment, and they were without a star. The angels, in a panic, ran to Heaven to tell God what had happened. After thinking for a moment, God said:

-“In that case, search for the the smallest, most humble and joyful of all the stars you can find, and bring it here.”

Surprised by the order, but unquestioning, because the Lord often did this kind of thing, the angels flew through the heavens in search of the smallest, most joyful star. It was a tiny star, as small as a grain of sand. He knew so little that he gave no importance to his brightness, and he spent his whole time laughing and chatting with his friends, the biggest stars. When this star was brought to the Lord, he was told:

-“The most perfect star in creation, the most wonderful, the most brilliant has failed due to its pride. I thought that you, the most humble and joyful of all the stars, should be the one chosen to take its place and light up the most important event in history: the birth of baby Jesus in Bethlehem.”

The star was filled with so much emotion and joy that he had already arrived over Bethlehem, led by the angels, before he realised that his brilliance was negligible and that, however much he tried, he could not illuminate things much better than a firefly could.

-“Ok,”

he said to himself.

-“How come I didn’t think before accepting this assignment? I’m the smallest star there is! It is totally impossible for me to do as well as that great shining star … The shame of it! I’m going to mess up an opportunity that all the stars in the heavens would have loved to have had …”

Then he thought again, “all the stars in the heavens.” Of course they would love to take part in something like this! And without hesitation, the start took to the skies with a message for all his friends:

-“On December 25th , at midnight, I want to share with you all the greatest glory that can exist for a star: to light up the birth of God! I will await you in the little town of Bethlehem, by a small stable.”

And indeed, none of the stars rejected this generous invitation. So many stars joined together, that they formed the most beautiful Star of Christmas that would ever be seen, even though the little star couldn’t even be seen amid all the brilliance. And happy at his excellent service, and as a reward for his humility and generosity, God transformed this little messenger into a beautiful shooting star, and gave him the gift of granting wishes every time saw his beautiful trail gleaming in the night sky was seen.

Merry Christmas to all who post on this Thread!

You know how I feel each and every one of you.

Happy New Year too. ♥

Queen Sheba ♥

From All Of Us On The Conversation Thread Happy Christmas! ♥♥

Be good little children. ♥

Merry Christmas Cherie♥

This Christmas – Danny Hathaway

Hang all the mistletoe
I’m gonna get to know you better
This Christmas
And as we trim the tree
How much fun it’s gonna be together
This Christmas

Fireside is blazing bright
We’re caroling through the night
And this Christmas, will be
A very special Christmas, for me

Presents and cards are here
My world is filled with cheer and you
This Christmas
And as I look around
Your eyes outshine the town, they do
This Christmas

Fireside is blazing bright
We’re caroling through the night
And this Christmas, will be
A very special Christmas, for me, yeah

Fireside is blazing bright
We’re caroling through the night
And this Christmas, will be
A very special Christmas, for me yeah

Hang all the mistletoe
I’m gonna get to know you better
This Christmas
And as we trim the tree
How much fun it’s gonna be together
This Christmas

Fireside is blazing bright
We’re caroling through the night
And this Christmas, will be
A very special Christmas, for me

Merry Christmas
Shake a hand, shake a hand now
Wish you brother Merry Christmas
All over the land

4 All In The Community. Cheers!