Before and After

The kids and grands as Lu calls them has come and gone. Those nice neat packages are all in the trash. But not the contents, at least for now. In a hearbeat, it was all gone.

What did we accomplish?

I mean if you really think about it we all have so much stuff now, how much can we put upon ourselves? People add on, build sheds and barns to store their stuff. A quarter of million dollar combine is one thing but all this junk made in China?

I wonder if we have all lost it. I really do. That day of shopping and thinking about the number of semi loads of stuff really got me thinking about it again. I have always felt this way about stuff versus the real meaning of the season but it seemed over the top this year. Was that because we had a little more money and a little more hope than last year?

Personally, our family knows each other well enough we learn how to find something special that person can really use. We got the hint and LuAnn bought a Kreuing Coffe Maker for Kevin. He opened it up and went right to kitchen and started using it. Everyone got to try new drinks and flavors.

Have you seen a child push away a pile of gifts to play with one silly little toy? Caolin and Tyler were drawing on a $5 dry erasable board. $50 toys pushed aside.

The bummer is bum gifts. I bought two Jupiter table lamps from Joann's Fabrics sold by Ottlite and neither on of them worked! I fired off an email to them and it will be interesting to see how they respond.

None of us broke the bank as they say for Christmas. The gifts were all well thought out, like Shannon's ice bucket for LuAnn or LuAnn's battery charger for me. You know though I will use the three pack of vice grip tools from Shannon even more?

It's the thought that counts. We are blessed with a family full of good thinkers. We all feel blessed to have each other. Our beliefs and daily work are very similar and compatible so it is not that hard to figure out what Eric or whoever really needs. Now everyone wants a set of those lightweight saw horses.

Five year old Liam drew us a picture he demanded to draw before his family came to see us. It shows two happy people with big smiles and blue skies. That says it all to me.

As a country I think we really need to think before we act before and after an event. I don't know that we will ever all agree on what to do before a 911 and after.

Me, I have a lot of thinking to do. What will I plant and how will I sell it before and after it is planted? What can I do today that is even a little better than yesteday?

It has been a great Christmas for our family. Tomorrow we get to go watch the TransSiberan Orchestra with our music grandson for three birthdays, his, mine and LuAnn's. I have wanted to see them perform ever since the fellow in Mason used Wizards in Winter in his fantastic light display that changed the way people think about decorating a home for Christmas.

The next day we meet with the banker for our 2011 farm budget. I think we are ready. Back to the ebb and flow of daily life and all of its little requirements.

Hope your Christmas was as good as ours. The ideas of a Christmas tree and a gift has exploded in our society in these days.

I just hope we remember Before and After.

Ed Winkle