From Jim Billings
Waukesha High School class of 1954
A Nativity Scene was erected in a church yard.
During the night the folks came across this scene.
An abandoned dog was looking for a comfortable, protected place to sleep. He chose baby Jesus as his comfort. No one had the heart to send him away so he was there all night.
We should all have the good sense of this dog and curl up in Jesus' lap from time to time.
The dog is a shepherd.
.......
Minister friend
Rev/Dr John Helt
who married Dee and me on 11/11/83
at Friedens United Church of Christ
13th and Juneau, Milw, WI
announced his retirement from ministry recently.
He liked his last -served church so much
and is so settled there in the shadow of Holy Hill
- Colgate, Wis. -
that he pledged to stay there after he's retired.
Read the below letter which he gave the raccoon permission to reprint.
(Remember: St Paul's has a charming cemetery in back.)
PLAY
.......
A gift box from Harry and David's
came the other day, a lovely array of fancy baked goods
- the poppy seed lemon cake is delicious! -
but was unsigned as to who sent it.
We looked through the wicker basket and all over it -
even cut open what turned out to be an insulated wrap -
with negative results.
It came from Harry and David's in Oregon.
So we don't know who the kind donor is.
In hope that a raccoon reader is the sender
and will see this -
we say: thank you!
.......
This picture of KD on the salmon-painted step-ladder
(Attn: Congo Esthetics Committee)
was taken Friday, pre-dawn, on our waking up.
Dee rearranged the furniture to accomodate our Xmas tree
that is now down from the storeroom and getting restrung
with mini-lights.
KD Cat loves the placement of the ladder. It used to hold
Wis Guthrie's 1965 Dirt God against the opposite wall,
but that's where the Xmas tree goes.
Now she can hunt doves on the windowsill feeder where they
boldly consume birdseed, one or two of them fearlessly.
Others, more timid, fly away when KD pounces at the window.
She usually leaps like a coiled spring from the top of the wing chair
but now with this arrangement she can jump from on high.
She also thinks she is less visible with some altitude on the birds.
KD looked at me when I called "Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!"
The flash caught her two glowing green eyes,
Most photogenic.
^.^
A merry Christmas to you!
.......
Christmas Light
When everyone had gone
I sat in the library
With the small silent
tree,
She and I alone.
How softly she shone!
And for the first time
then
For the first time this year,
I felt reborn again,
I knew love's
presence near.
Love distant, love detached
And strangely without
weight,
Was with me in the night
When everyone had gone
And the garland
of pure light
Stayed on, stayed on.
