Christmas in Bevier

City celebrations come and go, but there is a quality to life in small towns that accents a holiday...  I sat with a dear friend today while she sold lovely handmade jewelry...  Up and down each aisle, former students and friends sold little handmade treasures...  Local talent sang carols from the stage, and fussy toddlers streaked around the gym in peppermint striped tights .....with harried mommies close behind, the fluffy tulle dress and frilly hair bow ready.....  The baby show awaited...  But it wasn't a high priority with THE BABY!

We had the never-ending soup bowl, home made divinity, sugar scrubs scented with peppermint extract, baby oil, and the high hopes of junior girls thinking to finance Prom....  Santa, hayrides, frigid cold air....  Good times.  I stopped to bring home a pizza for my mom and me...  Two more students from my past smiling out the window...  I fully appreciate the layering of years of shared memories.  As a community Bevier just bleeds purple and white...  We give the school, the town, the young people our best.  With me, as well as with others, my best is sometimes not quite right...  But a spirit of community is a definite blessing with no purchase price...

Tonight I hang up my new necklace, a sparkling steampunk-inspired piece with bluebird, charm, antique chain and key...  I plug in a night light, offer Mom her favorite divinity and Holiday drop cookies...  Put aside a loaf of light bread for tomorrow's lunch, freeze a cherry nut loaf, tuck away some cute Stocking stuffers, and step from a hot shower and peppermint scrub...  I kind of wish I'd seen Santa... Think about all the years before and the ones to come...  First Saturday in December.....  Be there or ....  Wish you were...