Throw-back Thursday

Something I wrote six or so years ago on my other blog seemed apt to today--Boxing Day in some places, Exchanging Unwanted Gifts Day in others.  I'm sad not to be seeing Grandma Jackie for Christmas, but I'm thinking of her.

My grandmother is the queen of gift closets.

Closets.

All of her closets are stuffed to bursting, and it’s mostly with stuff for other people.

She shops daily.  Well, she goes to Mass daily, and after Mass, she goes to the store.  (She’s said to me a couple of times, “Sarah, I go to mass every day, and then I go shopping.  It’s what keeps me alive.”  I like that she knows that the Body and Blood of Christ are her daily sustenance, and I don’t think Jesus particularly minds that her Thanksgiving After the Eucharist always involves Boscov’s.)

Anyway, she shops daily (after Mass), and so if something goes on sale anywhere in the town of [Her Town], Pennsylvania, she’ll find it.  And she’ll find it before you do.  And if it’s a good enough sale (like, less than 10% of the original price), she’ll buy it.

She knows people who are a size 2 and people who are a size 22.  She knows people who have babies and people who have teens.  She knows people who need sofas and people who need reading glasses.

There is no object for sale in any store that she cannot attach to a need–real or imagined, potential or actual–of someone she knows.  So, she buys it.

If you ever go to visit her, you’ll leave with gifts.  She’ll say, “This is your birthday present–I’ve been saving it for you.”  Even if your birthday was six months ago, and she just bought it yesterday.  Or, “This is for you for Christmas–I’ll just give it to you now, though.”  Even if it’s September, and you’ll see her three more times before Christmas.  Or, “Here, take this and give it to your sister next time you see her.”  Even if your sister was just there and got her own trunkload of gifts.

Now, she may or may not have even been thinking of you when she bought it.  She probably wasn’t thinking anything other than “Three dollars!!  Score!!”  But if you come to her house, you won’t leave it without a gift from her closets.  Because she always has something, and so she always has something to give away. 

And so she always gives things away.

She’s not just the queen of gift closets.  She’s the queen of giving, really.

So, it makes me happy to have a gift closet.  Maybe when I’m eighty, mine will be big and filled with things I bought right after receiving my daily dose of Christ’s Body and Blood.  And maybe nobody will leave my home without something I had, just for them.  Maybe I’ll realize that I always have plenty, and so I always have plenty to give away.

Maybe I’ll get to be as good at giving things away as she is.

The Move

Well, the move went fairly well, all things considered.

We thought we were mostly ready.

 So we got the truck.

And we got doughnuts and coffee. 

People from Stephen's church had volunteered to come help us load, so . . . coffee and doughnuts.  (It almost killed Theo, as you can imagine, to hear, "They're not for us; they're for the movers," seventeen times before 8am.)

So, it turned out we were not quite so almost-ready as we thought we were.  People who arrived thinking that they'd spend an hour or two throwing boxes on the truck instead packed and loaded and packed some more.  All day.

They were sweet about it, though . . .

. . . and left very kind messages, instead of the things they were really thinking, for us to find when we started unpacking.

Several of them worked on the parsonage grounds, too, making it nice for the next pastor and his family.

Amos helped.

Theo was very, very helpful, too!

(We actually did ask him to take that one off so we could put in something else first.  He's not going the wrong way.)

We got it all packed and on the truck by the end of the day Saturday.

Pop-pop came down Sunday night to help.

No, really--he came to drive the truck.

And we rolled out Monday morning!  It was a very long drive.

We tried to keep our happy faces on as much as we could.

And we stopped along the way to visit with people.

We stopped at Grandma Jackie's for lunch the first day.

She was glad that Amos was such a good eater.  (She always worries about babies not getting enough to eat.)

We stopped at The Lake to spend the night.

We stopped at Chipotle and Chick-Fil-A and our other favorite places for meals.

We enjoyed the drive as much as we could (in Tennessee, for example) and put our game faces on for the rest.  (Virginia is a lot longer than you think, especially when you're traveling on 81.)

And finally, late in the evening on Tuesday, we arrived!

Our new home, waiting for us.  Yay!