Ho! Ho! No! No! No!

A Christmas Story

By Kinley Marie

Give me a tiny Mickey Mouse hat for my head.

 

Give me a tiny horn to toot.

Make me fluff the Christmas tree. (I'll hold my mouth just so!)

Make me examine old Christmas tree ornaments from my Mommy's and Daddy's past.

I'll hang the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ornament that Grandma and Grandpa brought me (after I carry it around awhile).

 

Yes, I'll even stand on my leg to work, even though it's in a cast. 

I'll supervise the parents' decorating efforts while I rest my leg and check email on Mommy's phone. 

But do not make me go see that big guy in the red suit and the beard. Ho, Ho, NO, NO, NO!

Last year, Mommy & Daddy made me sit on that guy's lap.

This year, they said I could decide for myself. (I heard my Mommy tell my Grandma that I didn't need anymore trauma when my leg is already in a cast.)

And I decided, "No, no, NO!" (even though Santa probably would have liked my Christmas sock and my jingle bell. He probably would have liked my cast, too, now that I've switched to pink. It's just a lighter shade of red, you know, which the Big Guy seems to like.)

Santa seems to be popular. There was a line to see him at the mall. I graciously decided that someone else could take my place.

This year, I think I'll just stick to a Christmas portrait with Mommy and Daddy.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Until next time,
Kinley Marie

Santa Claus and Turkeys

The calendar says December, but my dining room still says November. We just got back yesterday afternoon after spending Thanksgiving in Kentucky with Brent. I've gotten some of the Thanksgiving decorations transferred to the dining room table, but it definitely looks more like fall at my house than the stop-you-in-your-tracks fact that Christmas is only 3 weeks away.

The closest thing to a Christmas tree at my house are the cedar trees in a neighbor's pasture, providing texture to a December sunrise sky this morning. 

I guess it's good we got a dose of Christmas cheer on a stop we made on our 1,890-mile journey to Morehead, Kentucky, and back, since it may be a few days before there is any visible evidence of Christmas here on the County Line. On the way, we stopped at Santa Claus, Indiana. It began snowing lightly as we drove a few miles off the interstate and into the small community of Santa Claus. (They must have an "in" with the weatherman, don't you think?)

We spent some time in the Christmas shop there, and someone put my name on the "Nice" list in Santa's workshop. (I wish I'd taken a photo of the list, but I didn't think about it until we were down the road.)

We bought and addressed a postcard for Kinley, and I took some photos of Randy and Santa in front of the post office. Then one of Santa's helpers (just some local guy visiting the post office) stopped and offered to take our photo together. He said it's just part and parcel to take photos of strangers when you live in a place called Santa Claus.

  

I consented, even though I'd much rather be on the other side of the lens. Randy did, after all, put me on the nice list, so I thought I'd better follow through.

We seem to take cold and snowy weather with us when we visit Morehead, which dampens enthusiasm for outdoor tourist activities.

But it sure made Eagle Lake on the Morehead State University campus pretty. (It's my favorite place in Morehead, though Coffeetree Books and the Fuzzy Duck Coffee Shop are in contention, too.)

More to come from our trip (once I dig out from the pile of laundry, etc.)!