The Truth about Santa (Spoiler alert)

Kyle at age 2 and "some strange old dude"

Editor’s Note – Because this is a holiday week, our Relationships post has been written by our Sense and Centsibility author, Jenn Wallis.  It’s a Christmas parenting story. About Santa.

For years, we went to great lengths to make sure my oldest son Kyle kept believing that Santa is real. After he would go to sleep on Christmas Eve, my husband Justin would get out one of his Doc Marten’s boots from the 90’s (that he still wears – but that’s fodder for another blog) and imprint the sole into the fireplace ash and on the hearth, as proof that Santa had come down the chimney.  Justin would even go out into the driveway and make a few muddy reindeer hoof prints.  We’d take bites out of the cookies and pour out a little of the milk to look like Santa had sipped it (it had been sitting out for hours, after all).

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Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch: Some People Just Don’t Get It

In the ‘80’s, I saw millions of lights transform Ski Island in Oklahoma City into what I thought was the most spectacular light show I had ever seen.   I remember waiting in line behind hundreds of cars while people snapped photos of the lights reflecting off the water.

In 1993 I saw first hand how my childhood park, Shannon Springs Park in Chickasha, Oklahoma, was transformed into the Festival of Light.  I had to walk through that park to catch the school bus when I was a kid.  I remember city workers with guns shooting water moccasins after a major rain and kids fishing off the white bridge.  To see it enhanced with millions of lights was truly spectacular.

These two communities clearly get it.

The year I moved to the country I was amazed at how many people along the 30 miles of highway decorated their homes with outside lights.  It was nothing like the light displays I had seen in the past, but somehow the simple lights that outlined a barn or front door against a completely black night void of street lights or business neon signs made me smile.

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Silent Sunday: 12/19/10 ~ Tulsa Town, by Vlad Railian

This morning our Silent Sunday post is completely focused on Tulsa.  Because quite a few of our contributors live in central Oklahoma, we want to make sure and let Tulsa know they are in our hearts as well.  All images have been provided by Vlad Railian, an amateur photographer from the Tulsa area.  We’re certainly glad you’re living in Tulsa Town, Vlad…and for showing us some of what your city has to offer.  One final note, the LED photos aren’t necessarily “Tulsa,” per se – I just liked them and thought they might be appreciated as Christmas lights with a twist. ~ RDK

Rhema Building

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Introducing Tonks

Tonks Roberts - Our new Malamute Puppy

My husband and I got our first puppy approximately six months after we were married.  It wasn’t until years later that I learned getting a puppy at that particular point in a married life was a typical thing.

Get married, get settled, then…get puppy.  “Futz” Roberts (so named by Mick after a tame wolf who used to hang out at a bar in Stillwater) was half Australian Shepherd and half Samoyed.  He was the first dog of our hearts, and we loved him dearly.  There are stories I could tell. Oh, there are definitely stories.  But even now, I’m not ready to write them.  I still miss him and he’s been gone for over ten years.

Our second dog was adopted a few months after Futzie died.  I named him Bojangles because that week I happened to be in a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band mood.  He was billed as “half Husky and Half shepherd” by the shelter, but he looked a little like a golden retriever. Except that he was brown. And, he had a spotted tongue like a Chow.  Bojangles was a really sweet soul and he died too young.  The urban legend we’ve created in our family is that Bo saved us from a poisonous snake he battled in our back yard at night that might otherwise have hurt us.  It’s true that he was a great guard dog. And he would take on whatever animal happened to venture beyond the borders of our fence into his territory.  And it’s true that we’ve discovered more than our share of poisonous snakes since we’ve lived here.  However, we’re just not sure what really happened to our dog.  One day Mick walked out into the back yard and thought Bo had been sleeping a little too long.  He had.  That was another sad, sad day.

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The Spirituality of Births, Graduations, Weddings and Funerals

This is NOT my daughter's cake topper choice, but just an illustration of the whimsy involved recently in fun wedding choices. Click photo if you want to purchase this one.

Lamar is taking a break, so I have prepared a short thought for our Simple Sabbath post this morning. I sat down at my computer and the first thing I noticed on my desktop was two images; items my eldest daughter had picked out for her upcoming wedding.  One is the cake topper.  People don’t just use plastic molded standing brides and grooms for cake toppers any more.  And the other is a little “accent” for the wedding – to be used at just the right time.  I love it.

They are both secrets so I’ll just have to leave them here on my computer until they can be revealed during their wedding day.  But thoughts about the wedding led to other thoughts…musings about life events.

Christmas will be here soon, my eldest daughter is deeply involved in planning for her upcoming wedding in March, we’re picking up a new “family member” today (a six week old Alaskan Malamute puppy), my younger daughter will be finishing her hair stylist program this summer and a friend of mine died last week.  Births (I know, I’m using a puppy birth and the Christmas season for my example…), graduations, weddings and funerals.  I’m 47 years old and I’ve been sitting through or experiencing all these occasions literally since my own birth in one way or another.

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