Conditions at 5:30 am - a little windy and -4'
Expected later - mix of sun and cloud and -2'
This year I received two very special gifts that mean a great deal to me.
The first one I received when the kids arrived at the Charlottetown airport. In his hands, James was carrying a handmade centre piece. It consisted of an orange juice can wrapped in bright Christmas fabric, and secured with a ribbon. Inside was an assortment of live evergreen sprigs, accented with a silk pointsettia, and in the centre standing proud and tall was a column of red, green and white pipe cleaners twisted together. At the top of the pipe cleaners was a small square of red construction paper with the words "My grandma is awesome" handwritten on it. When he gave it to me in the airport he reported that there was "the green stuff inside" so that I could add water to it. Apparently he came home from school with this and Patti just assumed it was for Greg's mom, as she lives in town. But no, he announced it was for me. She asked how he was going to get it here, and he said he was going to carry it. "All the way to PEI?" she asked, and he said Yes.
I'm sure that he brought a smile to the faces of many people as he traveled through the Toronto airport, flew to Ottawa, waited for a connecting flight to Halifax, then the plane to Nova Scotia and ending the day going to a hotel. Then the next morning catching the flight to Charlottetown, all the while holding this precious piece of art work. To me, that was the true meaning of Christmas - someone working hard to make something special for someone they care about, then going to great lengths to see that it gets there safely. I displayed it on my desk all day and everyone was delighted with the story. It was a little thing that reminded everyone what Christmas is really supposed to be about.
The second special gift I received was from Meghan. It was a calendar that had
blank pages for the cover and each month, so you could customize each one. The front cover has a carefully drawn picture of me and Meghan. Inside is a hand drawn picture appropriate for each particular month. January has a countdown from 10 down to 1, and the word Party, in big, colourful letters to signify New Years Eve. February has a large red heart for Valentines Day, of course. March has a large shamrock with Happy St. Patrick's Day on it. April has a large and very colourful Easter Egg. May has a big blue mug filled with steaming tea, for Mother's Day and June has a large steaming mug of coffee for Father's Day. July is my favorite. It has a large polka dot birhday party hat and the big letters spell out "Happy Birthday Grandma!!!!!". In keeping with the same vein, August has a large chocolate birthday cake with the words "Happy Birthday Meghan!!!!". I am a little curious about the fact there are only 5 candles on the cake though. September has a large book, open to a page with lots of writing, and some juicy red apples to signify back to school. October, of course, has a large candy, a skull and a ghost and Happy Halloween in orange and black letters. November has a beautiful red poppy with green leaves growing in some green grass and the caption for this one reads "Rememberin's Day" and December finishes off the year with a lovely Christmas tree surrounded with candy canes. I know a lot of time and effort went into this gift but I also know she would have enjoyed doing it very much. She has even been kind enough to write in all the kid's birthdays for me just in case I forget.
So for me, it was a very special Christmas with some very precious gifts.
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