Here it is, counting down the days until Christmas morning. The trees are all decorated, the presents being wrapped. Time is whizzing by and the hours are becoming slimmer to get all the errands ran, cookies baked, and shopping done.

Winter is a time for being extra careful. Shoveling snow the wrong way, slipping on sidewalks and wearing the wrong kinds of clothing can lead to spasms, strains and sprains.

“I think she’s going to do it this time.” It was wishful thinking on my part. With my palms up, I held my hands out and pleaded, “Come to Momma.”
Sara just stood there and looked at me. I have often wondered if she was thinking: “My momma really needs to chill.”
At this point, she was pulling herself up from the floor. Several times Tim and I had watched Sara do it. Each time she did, we just knew she would let go and start walking. Did that happen? Nope. Instead she let go and plopped back down to the floor and crawled around the room.

So here we are, closing in on the last few days of 2019. I am so excited that God has been gracious and allowed me to remain here on this earth continuing to enjoy life, family and friends. I am excited about the possibility of living to see the year 2020 as well.
That being said, for the last time this year I am sharing the list compiled my fellow author Jared Jackson of special days for each month. Thanks for all the hard work Jared! The fourth item below is especially meaningful to us authors.
Happy December!

The podcast of my book “Pushing Back,” the first in the Boone series, is posting the final chapter in a couple of weeks. It’s been a lot of fun, and reading each chapter aloud and hearing the voices of Boone, Nancy, Mr. Everett, Deputy Anderson, Boone’s parents, his sister Hannah, and all the rest of the inhabitants of the book has given me a chance to reflect on what “Pushing Back” is about. I knew that Boone was one of those kids out on the fringes, invisible to most people, who is just trying to get by. There’s more to it than that, of course, as there is in most stories.

Like most people of my age from this rural area, I occasionally worked in tobacco. My start was perhaps different than most, however. I was "employed" by my school teacher father in the summers to help him measure fields for insurance companies that then may assess their worth in the event of hail storms and the like. And as a teen, I was sometimes employed by local farmers to cut or hang tobacco. As our culture has changed, so too has our production of tobacco as a cash crop. I rarely see tobacco fields now, and it sometimes makes me a little nostalgic or even sad.

Our pastor preached a message Sunday a week ago about Jonah and the whale. You Faithful Readers who are well versed in the Bible know the basics of the story. God told Jonah to go and preach to Ninevah, but this was not what Jonah wanted. He decided instead to board a ship and go to Tarshish.

You know, some of these turkey leftover recipes can be prepared and frozen for later this winter. It will be a treat then, not just a way to use up leftovers.

TURKEY – NOODLE CASSEROLE
2 cups cooked turkey or chicken pieces
8 ounces egg noodles, cooked, drained
8 ounces sour cream
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 can french-fried onion rings

No, this is not a variation on chicken salad. This turkey treat is special. I bet you never thought of making a fruit salad with your leftovers? Here it is.

TURKEY FRUIT SALAD
4 cups chopped cooked turkey breast
1 cup pineapple tidbits, drained
1 cup seedless grapes, halved
1 cup chopped walnuts (pecans would do)
1 cup chopped red apples, peel and all
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise

Combine all fruit in large bowl. Carefully add turkey. Finally, moisten with mayonnaise. Cover and chill for 2 or 3 hours.

You learn something quickly when you move to Tennessee; it never snows on Christmas Day. Some years it never snows at all. Which I suppose is a good thing. No one in Tennessee really knows how to drive in the stuff.

Some years ago, our grown children and their families came out to visit at Christmas. The sky was clear; temps were in the sixties. It was more like early fall than Christmas. My daughter, who had come with her family the day before, ran three miles that morning—in her shorts.