This Christmas I purposely had all the shopping done and gifts wrapped by the week after Thanksgiving. Forty-two years of married Christmas' have taught me that, even, if very well prepared, December will always, and I do mean always, throw you some stuff for which you just didn't plan. So I left November and entered December feeling I was ready for everything that might come and thus prepared to experience that Spirit of Christmas as things flowed through December.
I've had the opportunity to participate in and be part of several Christmas Spirit-filled events this December. But yesterday was one that truly touched my heart strings and made me feel like I know this season of the year is supposed to truly feel.
Our Countryside Homemakers Club donated non-perishable food in lieu of exchanging Christmas ornaments this year. I filled two boxes with this food at our December 5th meeting. The lady in our club that was going to deliver this food had a death in her family and could not attend. So I kept the food and told the other ladies I would find where we committed to give this food and deliver it.
The next week, on Monday, I put the food in the back seat of my car so that when I was in Georgetown I could deliver it. The destination was to be a soup kitchen. I called the Scott County Extension office to see if they could tell me where to deliver the food. Connie, the director, was just about to start a huge meeting and said she would find out and call me back. She did mention in brief conversation that it was located somewhere on Bourbon Street. The lady heading this effort at the county level had a sick husband, so Connie was going to need to do some research and call me back. I waited and never got a response. Claude spoke with Connie and she remembered the request, just not who requested.
I determined this week I would make that delivery. I got out on the Internet and searched for Soup Kitchen's in Georgetown, Kentucky. Buried in a list of possibilities, I finally found The Gathering Place on Bourbon Street. I called the phone number on their website. A very nice lady answered the phone. I explained my desire to deliver these two boxes of food. She said she would be in until 4pm that day. That fit great with my schedule.
I headed into Georgetown at 1pm. My afternoon included dropping off the food boxes, hitting the dollar store, practicing the organ for Sunday's Christmas program, going to the nursing home with Papa, finding me something for dinner, shopping for all those groceries needed for Christmas, and then home to put all those groceries away. I would get home about 9pm. See what I mean about Christmas throwing stuff at you. All the things I was doing were good and most were to benefit others. But they still make for a hectic afternoon and evening.
My first stop was The Gathering Place. I pulled up in front and parked on the street. There was a wide driveway between their building and a little building next door. This little building looked to be part of The Gathering Place's effort. There were several people working around a garbage bag full of clothing. They were picking out what would work for them and their families. They looked up and smiled at me and I asked if they were part of The Gathering Place and was that where I was to leave the food I brought. They told me I needed to take it to the side door of the building I parked in front of. I started to lock my door and walk down the driveway to the door. One of these sweet ladies said, "You just drive your car right down there and I'll knock on the door for you." I started to tell her I would be happy to do it myself but I decided to not do that and let her help me. It just felt right.
She knocked on the door, I pulled my car up and parked. Around the corner from the back of this little building came the lady I spoke with on the phone. She was all smile and remembered my name. I thanked the lady for getting her for me and she also smiled really big. I opened my car door and took out the first box. The lady running The Gathering Place took it. I went to the other side of my car and got the second box. We went in the back door. She and another lady had been sorting through their food supply to prepare for the Christmas event.
This is where my heart filled to the brim. It had been building since those kind people looking through other people's clothing donations paused to help me. It reached full as I saw floor to ceiling shelves in a tiny space with two good-hearted ladies working to stretch that food to feed many for Christmas. That, my friends, is the true Spirit of Christmas. It felt so very good to share what our ladies had donated in this effort.
I'm grateful for that small moment in time that will make this Christmas have so much more meaning. I'm eager to share in our January meeting with the Homemakers the joy this Christmas felt for me because of this experience. The Amen House is in Georgetown. We could have donated there. I could have driven there and given our boxes easily because I know exactly where the Amen House is. I'm so grateful I waited and then found The Gathering Place and donated there. I hope I never forget that wonderfully warm feeling of interacting with all the people I met at The Gathering Place.
Now for the next great Spirit of Christmas feeling...my family will be here Saturday. That will complete the experience for 2012.
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