"Real" Christmas Gifts

I am not the traditional Christmas, mall shopper with Christmas list down to here? It is Christmas, and it is time to celebrate with family and friends and church and enjoying this holiday together with those you love. Am I the exception? I think not.

Christmas to me, was drawing names, and only one gift to adult family members and Christmas gifts to my children and grandchildren and enjoying their faces on opening these chosen gifts. The giving, not the receiving, is my idea of Christmas.

I shopped at some specialty shops for Karen for that one of a kind gift that she least expected. When she expressed her 'wish' to go home to North Carolina for Christmas, this was my big gift to her, making sure everything was OK with my extended family here in Birmingham and mine and Karen absence from the Nutter/Northcutt clan Christmas here. This trip and her family and their love for us at this special time is about the best Christmas they could give us and we could give them.

We drove back from North Carolina with a fullfilled feeling having celebrated Christmas we believe HE would want us to. We went to candlelight services together as a family joining in fellowship the Clark's friends at Northminster Presbyterian. This was our Christmas. The prayers, the special prayers, before each meal was said by different family members expressing their special thanks for the season. This is our Christmas.

The Sunday after Christmas, we again went to church together as a family and the service was our further commitment as Christians at this special time of year. Our lunch and dinner together with family that day was again our special Christmas. If it sounds like our life at Christmas is about church, you made the correct assumption. But that is US.

I hope you find family and strengthening of your faith your Christmas. It is a time of renewal and reminding each of us of the important things in this life. The receiving of gifts is fine, but the giving of gifts is even better. Before we left to go to North Carolina, our SS class found two families in need with a total of 5 children who may not have had a Christmas with our efforts. The first round of collections for them was $600.00 with others doing personal contributions. We paid for rent, a house payment, utilities, and gifts for all the children including clothes and toys. That is not me, but we as Christians taking care of those that have special needs. That to me is Christmas.

A phone call. I had told my friend John that I correspond with in prison, and he called me Tuesday night after Christmas. They are limited to a total of 5 minutes and it is a collect call but John sounded so good. He too has found his belief strengthened not weakened by this terrible time in his life. He talked of all the bible classes he has taken, the ones he has planned, and the schooling he is taking while in prison. He thanked me for the calendar, the stamps, the books, and most of all for the letters. He said so many do not get much if any mail and he shares everything to make someone else life a little better and a little lighter. Is that not what Christmas is all about?

My ramblings this am is only a sharing of what my life is all about. I have one of my sons coming home tomorrow with his family. I had a great time shopping for my grandson Rhett. Grandfathers still like to shop for toys once in a while. Karen and I met at ToysRUs and we got two more gifts last night to go with the ones we already had for them. This was or is my further extension of what Christmas is all about. I love my family, my friends, and their caring to share a part of their lives with me and with Karen. I think that is what HE would want our Christmas to be all about!

Christmas in Hickory, North Carolina

I guess going home for Christmas, for Karen and for me, was just about the best Christmas ever. I have to preface this post with something sad the reader may not know. Karen lost her 33 year old son back in June of this year. This is the first Christmas without him and a tough one for both of us.

I was fortunate to have known Jason for 15 of his 33 years and he had grown to love his stepdad. He and I had become kindred spirits of sorts, as I was someone he could talk to about problems without some of the emotional luggage he had with his 'real' dad. He soon was calling me 'dad' as our love for each other grew over the years. That said, you see how this Christmas was important for Karen and for me to be around her parents, sister, and brother and their family at this time.

We got to Hickory Thursday night and moved into the downstairs guest bedroom. We had dinner together and talked and had a nice night cap of a single malt I bought for the Clarks. Isle of Jura, by name, one dad Clark likes a lot.

Karen's sister Kathi and hubby Steve came Friday about noon and we had lunch and dinner together before going to Christmas Eve services at Northminster Presbyterian Church. Their service involves what it called a 'love feast'. The early Moravian Christians who settled in the Carolinas and Georgia have a practice of passing a basket with a sweet bun and a hot cup of coffee or tea during the service that is their way of 'service' to other Christians during this special time of year.

It was a nice touch with a time to visit and meet new friends during a short break in the middle of the service. You then pass the cups back down to the aisle and they are collected by the members that service you.

The church was decorated for Christmas and they light the 5th candle of Advent that signifies Christ's birth. Toward the end of the service, they pass bee's wax candles to all present and the minister lights the first candle from the Advent candle. Just as Christ teaching spead in the world, the light from that first candle soon lite up the entire church as all the candles were lite. The last verse fot the last hymn, the candles are held aloft and the lights in the church are lowered and the effect is awsome. I have been to Candlelight service many times but this one, for us, was special. Karen cried a little as did I, but that was OK.

Christmas morning we opened gifts after our tradional Christmas breakfast of a variety of cheeses, crackers, toast, and jelly and jam. That with Jamican (sp.) Blue coffee was perfect. Gifts were exchanged and each waited for that gift to be opened and all the Ohhhs and Aughs, then another was passed out. It takes a while to open Christmas for our extended Clark family.

Karen's brother Paul, girlfried Corine, and daughter Katie came for lunch and dinner on Christmas day. We had 11 for lunch and dinner a house full.

It was a nice extended weekend for all, and we went to church together Sunday. It was hard saying goodbye Monday morning but time to go home to Birmingham. The Clarks are a wonderful and close knit family and makes this guy, this tall country boy from Birmingham feel right at home. And I was!

Gracie Frair Nutter, Our Cat!

The cat carrier is in the basement and Gracie is soundly sleeping on the beach towel across the foot of my bed. I have just gotten my shower but remembered the cat carrier is in the basement. Gracie hates that thing!

I know if she hears me at the basement door or the sound that carrier makes, I will not be able to find a cat in the 4 bedroom home. She will make like the shadow, and only she knows.

I ease the bedroom door closed as I start down the hall to the stairs. I have sucessfully captured my kitty of 9 years in the bedroom and Karen is watching the door. I get back upstair and Karen is caressing Gracie as I come through the door with the carrier. Gracie moves like a coiled spring but Karen is faster and has a firm hold on our gray persian. Meoooow! Meeeoooow! Translated, "you guys tricked me again, no fair!"

Gracie is slowly getting accustommed to the carrier and I place it by the deck door off the kitchen. She is not a happy camper. But I play with her through the bars and she is settling down.

I finish dressing, get my briefcase and sport jacket and my tall glass of H2O which travels with me constantly. I get my things to the car and come back for Gracie. One whiff of the cold air this am she is again not too happy. But she settles in with me in the car's front seat and I talk to her assuring her everything will be OK.

We get to Alford Avenue Clinic and I deposit Gracie with the young ladies and instruction to love Gracie PRN I (as needed). They laughed.

I worked all day, a very long day getting my work done plus delivering some Christmas packages to customers and getting some special sausages out of my warehouse for my boss Bill and for his Church. It is close to 5pm and I call to see if Gracie can come home or do they need to keep her. I talked to the doctor (unusual) but he was good in going over with me all he did to bring all her tests and shots up to date.

I get back to the clinic right at 5pm and told the young lady I would go back with her to get Gracie as it would make it much easier for everyone. She was so happy to see her dad and I held her and hugged her before putting her into her carrier for the trip home. I saw the doctor again and all her tests came back OK.

Now the most important part about taking a 'free' cat in for a check up. I forgot to pay for a haircut one time and the barber walked out and tapped on the window of my car. "What is it Joe?". Joe said "you are about the forget the best part of that hair cut?"...I said "What's that?"..Joe smiled and said "...Paying for it!"...We laughed. Back to my story. The receptionist is getting me a ditty bag with flea stuff, a roller for hair on my clothes, and a copy of the bill. She looked me straight in the eye and said "Merry Christmas, that will be $191.08" "Will it be check or credit card?"....

Mastercard of course! I look back at this year's expenses, or just the vets bill for the year. $138 back in July and $191 in December or $329/year. That works to about 90¢ a day. She is in my lap right now as I write this? "Gracie are you worth $1.00 a day?"...She looks up at me, and you know the answer! Gracie "purrrrr"....

17° in Birmingham

Brrrr....Did someone say Brrrr. My first question to myself this am is why did I not get the garbage up last night and roll the buggy to the street? I knew there was an artic blast in the forecast! I am or was too warm and too cozy to get this done but why?

We are creatures of habit and I traditionally do not do this the night before. Now I am paying the price for my bad habit. I turn on the radio in my office and the announcer is saying 17° this morning and a high of 31°. It is really not going to get very warm today at all in good old Birmingham.

Karen is still sleeping and I tippy toe around the house getting all the trash baskets emptied making the least sound possible. The one is the master bedroom will have to wait. Gracie, my cat, is coming up the stairs and now is reminding me that her poo-poo box needs changing too. Augggh! But she is so grateful for my actions and into the covered box she goes, iniating the new sand I have just put in.

Now where is my sweater cap? My jacket is in the kitchen where I left it last night knowing I would need it today. But where the h*** is my sweater cap Karen made for me for my head on cold days like this? Ah, at the foot of the bed with the box of Kleenex I kicked off sometimes during the night.

I am now into my jacket and cap on top of my sweats and pickup the mail for the mailbox. I have the two garbage bags, the mail in my teeth, and out the back door onto the deck I go. The deck is realatively new, but now creaks under my weight as I descend the 13 steps down to the sidewalk leading to the top of the drive and my roller thingee for the garbage. The corner security light comes on but offers little comfort for this morning trek into 17° winter weather.

But go I must and I have the buggy at the street, the mail in the mailbox and pick up the Birmingham News out of the yard. I can see my breath now that I can breath through my mouth. I looked at the two bills I paid last night and I know the power company and the bank will wonder why the envelopes and checks have teeth marks in them.

I know the sound of the deck creaking will wake Karen but no, she is still sleeping soundly when I go back down the hall. Gracie met me at the storm door on my return but only stuck her nose out and one quick sniff and she knew, she definiely knew, she did not want to go outside THIS morning. 17°....I will remember the next time the weather man warns me of this am artic weather. From a very cold Birmingham, Alabama, USA, Good morning y'all!!

Dinner at the Fishmarket Restaurant

It is Saturday 12/18, the last weekend before Christmas and my yard is calling me. After a morning shift and taking care of mom, I scurry, not the shopping mall, but to home and my yard. Karen hears me come in and I am shedding clothes as I go through the hall to the bedroom. "Whatz Up?", was the call from the living room. The yard, the yard, gotta go!

Whew! 2 1/2 hours of raking, cleaning under shrubbery, blowing down the yard and 5 trips to my compost pile with leaves galore. But the trees are now bare and this is that finally pickup, or hopefully so, before the cold, rain and possibly snow sets in for winter fast approaching.

I am tired, looking forward to that hot shower and relaxing in my recliner. Karen opens the back door onto the deck as I am finishing up. "Francis just called and invited us to join them at the Fishmarket Restaurant for supper (southern for dinner). And I told her YES before I asked you, are you OK with this". I am an ex-jogger and have that high gear most folks don't have and I sprint through my shower and soon into gray slacks, a blue gray long sleeve sweater, black shoes, and gray herringbone sports jacket. Karen said "Where did that burst of energy come from?"

5:30pm, we get to the restaurant just as our friends arrive, Francis and Herb, Ted and JoAnne, and Karen and me. We have a great meal together and Ted said grace. The food was great, snapper grilled cajun style, salmon, trout, and flounder. I think the 6 of us all got different dishes. We talked and laughed and told winter stories of power outages, ice storms, closed interstates, and home without heat. Funny now, but the storms of '83 and '93 were no jokes. A good evening of commardary. JoAnne and Ted invited us to their home for coffee and we all sat in their new addition to the back of their home, a deck with double glass panes reaching from the floor to the ceiling. New furniture and a 37" hi definition Sony TV that looks like a theater screen. We sat and talked and laughed until almost 8:30pm but we all go to SS and Church Sunday so it soon goodbye.

PS. Ted said when Francis called, JoAnne was lying on the sofa complaining about the pain in her legs and back after they had worked the yard. When Ted told her about the invitation to dinner, she bounded off that sofa and showered and dressed in no time. He told that story at dinner with us and I sure would like to be a fly on the wall after all of us left....Poor Ted.

Double Shift for Primary Caregiver

"Ring"...."Ring!" I pick the phone up on the second ring, "Hello!".....The voice on the other end of the line is my pm caregiver. "Mr. Nutter, I have a migraine headache and have taken something for it, but right now it is not working. If I get to feeling better later, I will call you and come in late, OK?". What do you say, "NO"? I told Peg to take care of yourself and let me know later if you can work tomorrow. Thanks for calling!

What else do you say? The words now that come to mind are "your it". We all played games and tag when we were kids and at sometime in the game, "you were it". That is me now! I have been with mom all morning and when Peg called I was fixing mom's lunch. Now it is calling my wife and letting her know I have the pm shift too and for her to go on with her dinner and I'll eat with mom and be home when I get there. Fortunately I have a loving and understanding wife and partner in life and she totally understands my responsibility. "OK love, and let me know when you leave your mom's OK!"

Mom has another son and a sister and a back up caregiver but we are approaching the Christmas holidays and everyone is busy shopping and decorating and I will need them when Karen and I go to Hickory, NC for our Christmas with the Clark family. That was Karen sole request when I ask her what she wanted for Christmas. I used this afternoon with mom to plan next weeks shifts and who needs to be where and when. There are still some holes in the shift coverage as some plan trips out of town with family as we are, so it is fill in the blanks as soon as possible.

It was a good afternoon with mom, cleaning, some light cooking, getting her recycles picked up and out as well as emptying all the trash baskets in her house and mopping and wiping off all the counters and kitchen table. I cannot sit when working and it is filling the sugar bowl, salt and pepper shakers, doing a run of underwear and PJs and dried and folded in her drawer in her bedroom. The time flew by as it does when you are working. I remember standing watches in the Coast Guard when you did not move, but had to stand in one place for 4 hours. I remember how tiring this was and the hours moved so slowly.

Mother dinner was at 6:30pm, clean up the kitchen again, and get mom to take her pm medicine which she fusses about everytime. But she did this for her son, somewhat reluctantly, but mission accomplished. I ask her one more favor by 7:15pm and that was to change into PJ's and a robe before I left. She looks at the clock in her bedroom "Jeff, it is only 7:15 and I don't go to bed until maybe 9:00pm. I will change then!" Jeff has to get his persuasive manners out and finally convince mom she needed to change before I left. She did finally.

There is a light sleeping pill in with her pm medicine and I know 30 to 45 minutes after taking this, she is ready for bed. Now by the time she got into her PJ's and robe, she had pulled the bed covers back and was cleaning her face which she does before retiring for the night. It is a good sign, as she has forgotten about the time and it is now how she feels.

I went back to the den and turned off the lights and put on my jacket. "You going Home!"...
"Yes, mom, it is almost 8:00pm and I have been here since breakfast!" She said "well, let me see you to the door and I will lock it behind you."....I got my goodnight hug and a promise to be back Saturday and she smiled at me as I left. I backed out of the driveway and here was that little lady watching me through the little window in the backdoor. I waved goodbye under her security light and she waved back. What is wrong with this picture I have drawn now in your mind, the reader? Nothing! Tired but leaving mom with the most fullfilled feeling all over. A very nice feeling. Merry Christmas to everyone from the Jeff Nutter family.

Birmingham's Malfunction Junctions

The interstate system was built beginning back in the late 50's and it continues to expand. The traffic volume is not what it was back in the 60's, 70's or even 80's, it too, is increasing in geometric progression making interstate travel a case of 'hurry up and wait'. The on and off ramps are not long enough now and when traffic backs up, the cars may still be on one of the turn/through lanes, making defensive driving and knowledge of the system a must.

The area has grown so now, it is now into not just Jefferson Country but the surrounding counties of Shelby, Bibb, and Tuscaloosa. Birmingham is the hub in the center of the state and it is impossible to avoid some I59, I65, I459, and I20 that all come together somewhere in the larger Birmingham hub. I459 is the only interstate that does not go through Birmingham but was designed to circle Birmingham taking the through traffic especially the 18 wheelers out of the downtown junctions. This has worked to a some degree, but the traffic volume including the number of trucks have increased making I459 almost as busy as the inter-city systems.

The trucking industy is going under close scrutity right now as within 2 years we have endured some terrible fiery crashes where tankers hauling gas or diesel fuel have crashed under the junction in downtown Birmingham. The first one was two years ago and according to witnesses, the driver swerved to avoid hitting a driver crossing in front of him to make a turn onto I20N and the tanker hit a bridge abutment, killing the driver, and 9,000 gallons of gasoline burned down the 'concrete and steel' interstate ramp overhead. This was much like the trade center, the bridge overpass is designed to take anything but high heat. The burning fuel took all the temper out of the rebar steel and the concrete turned to dust. It took 4 months working 24/7 to rebuild this ramp, making travel through this part of the system a nightmare.

Now almost 2 years later, another tanker, believed to be traveling 70 mph on the off ramp, rolled a tanker full of diesel fuel and again 8,000 gallons burned down the overhead section of I59/I20N and the I65N ramp off of I20N. This has just been completed now finishing some 6 weeks before projections and before cold weather set in which would slow the tempering of the concrete very, very slow. We are fortunate as we have steel beam producers and pre-stressed concrete manufacturer within a 25 mile radius of Birmingham. They moved these huge beams, up to 52 feet long, at night between 12 midnight and 5:00am. The loss of this overpass dealt everyday traffic a major blow in trying to move commerce and travel through this junction.

We get these two major overpasses rebuilt and I hear on the news a flatbead has rolled on one of the overpasses and dropped a 45,000 lb. driveshaft onto the I459S overpass, punching a huge hole now covered with steel plates. This crash dropped pieces of concrete down onto I65S and damaged several cars passing underneath. Luckily no one was killed in this accident.

Now the State of Alabama and Governor Riley is stepping into the picture. They are now proposing overhauling all the regulations concerning trucks here in Alabama. They had hoped the trucking industry would do this, but after these 3 crashes, the state now feels they are not or did not act fast enough. They are looking at speed reduction, closer inspection of cargo, or how secure is it strapped to the bed, and driver re-training. This along with heavy fines and damages to be picked up by the company/carrier will hopefully cause some safer Interstates here in Alabama.

Midgie's 90th Birthday Week

Her name is Mildred. I call her mom or mother and sometimes my Midgie. When one of her brothers was growing up, he could not pronounce Mildred and somehow in a child's vernatular, it came out Midgie. This stuck and even today there are cousins and nephews and grandchildren that call her Midgie. They too heard the older cousins and brothers and sister call her Midgie so here we are at 90, and it is still Midgie.

She had and is having a wonderful week with her birthday spreadout over the entire week. The cards began coming in on Monday and still continue. She has had visits from her brother Jimmy and sister Barbara. Yesterday was Jim and Goldie, my in-laws, that she has not seen in a number of years. The phone calls are really too many to number. She had calls from her brothers and so many of my cousins and my son Jason (I believe) as the caregiver said the voice sounded like mine...

Mom has mid advanced diminsia and only remembers selectively. I have told friends and family about this and how difficult it is for mom to remember some people and some detail that they would expect mom to remember. But she does, but maybe not while you are talking to her! She will be talking to me the next hour or next day or next week and begin to tell me some details about a particular phone call and that in her mind it was just a few minutes ago. She will even argue over when she talked to someone when "I" know it was "last Wednesday". I just say "OK, mom and let her go on with her story".

She is 90 and I don't think I will make it that far. I tell her she is shooting for a 100 now and I want her picture on the Smuckers jelly jar on the Today show when Willard Scott tells about all the folks that are celebrating their 100th birthday or more. OK, mom, the ball is in your court. If you caregivers don't wear out and we can hold on for another 10 years, I KNOW you can. I am looking forward to the journey and so should YOU!...Jeff

Mom's 90th and One-Up-Manship!

Today is my mom's 90th birthday and she lives by herself. Well, she does with a good support system where really the only time she is alone is when she is asleep. Even then, she has a "lifeline" clamshell transmitter tied to her phone. If she has any distress at all, she pushes the button on the little transmitter on a lanyard around her neck and the transmitter calls the service company via "On-Star", and they call my cellphone, brother's cell, and her sister's phone. So, she really is never "alone".

She has been getting cards and letters and candy all this week but today her sister Barbara and brother Jim wanted to come visit. I got a phone call early yesterday and they planned to be there about 2:00pm when I had mom back home from the beauty shop. "Ms Puffy", I call her after this visit. She gets in the car and looks in the vanity mirror and says everytime..."it makes my hair look so puffy!"

Everything worked like a timex yesterday as her brother and sister drove up just as I was getting back from getting her groceries. The living room was now decorated on a mahogony drop leaf table with a dozen red roses with baby breathe in the arrangement. This they had put in one of mother "hand" cut glass vases and they were just beautiful. There was a 2-lb box of Russell Stover sitting on mom's coffee table. I have one a vanity kit filled with new handkerchiefs and good smelling little scent balls to put wherever to make her house smell so nice. Plus a pant suit, with olive green top and pants with a muted olive design in them...I plan to give this to her today her 'real birthday'.

The one upmanship part of this story began with someone telling a story beginning with "you will never believe this..." The first story Jim told about playing golf with his doctor friend Al. They met at the country club, each in their own cars, and played a round and had lunch together. Jim and Al are walking to parking lot and Jim discovers he has lost his car keys, the only set he has with him. Al looks around on the parking lot while Jim goes back in to see if any keys have been turned in. Nope.

Al took Jim home that evening and his wife has a set of keys and she can take him back to pick up his car the next day. The next day, Kathy drops Jim off with her set of keys, when he meets his friend Al who had driven to the country club for breakfast. Kathy leaves the duo and Jim and Al have breakfast together and soon are talking about Jim's lost keys. Al suggested they go and look for the keys on the golf course and offers to help Jim if he wants to do it. The do it.

Jim said they went to the first three tees, around the ball washer, everywhere either he or Al remembered Jim being. On the 4th hole Jim is thinking this is really a waste of time. But he is game and right then Al said "remember the bad slice I had on the 4th, and you went into the rough to help me find my ball." Jim remembered where the ball landed and he looked down in the tall grass he said "only the lawnmower would find"....And there was his keys! Played 18 holes and they find them off the 4th...what the chance?

Sister Barbara spoke up...He husband Jack had played 18 holes on a par 3 in Birmingham too many years ago and it was right after they married. He got home and was showering and found his wedding ring was gone his new bride had given him. She insisted they go that night and go look for the wedding band. Jack said" but it is dark, we will never find it at night"...But her tears and will prevailed and off they go to the golf course. It is a bright moonlit night and they started looking at the first tee. Sister Barbara said she saw something shining in the grass in the moon light and went straight to it. He had lost it on the first tee and it was less than 50 feet from the first tee. She said she would never have seen it in the daylight, as the gold reflected the bright moon light. Wow! What's the chance?

Two lost item stories involving golf! Can you play "one-up-manship" and beat or match one of these. Welcome...Happy birthday mom! Thanks for loving me my almost 67 years! Son Jeff!

The Warmest is 27°F

My mind wonders this morning as I thaw out from taking an inventory in a perishable foods warehouse in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. When you stroll by the meat case or the frozen food display in the super market, do you wonder about how those products got there?

I am a key account representative for one of those companies that brings these nice convenient items that you now drop in your shopping buggy. This story is about what happens behind the scene in the management of this huge, huge industry. My company manufactures both cooler or meat case items and freezer items. The management in my warehouse and in the perishable foods distributor may sometimes take a crystal ball. How much will you buy and which flavor or size will you buy the most or least of? How much or how little do I need to keep in inventory to meet your needs? Hummm!

Tuesday is the order from my buyer, but first it is INVENTORY of the pull slots in this warehouse to verify, in truth, my products are in there designated pull slots. For me, now, it is to don a large, thinsulate parka and gloves and of course, a cap or hat. It gets cold, very cold, in those coolers and freezer.

You have to image a "huge" and very long and tall room with shelves or "slots" reaching the ceiling. It is not warm! The warmest cooler being 27°F above Zero and the freezer is 15°F below Zero. The shock in the freezer is mind bending as there are fans blowing making the chill factor somewhere in the 40°F below zero. You don't fool around in this freezer! You had better know where your slots are and get the dates and count in the pull slots and get out. The guys (and gals) that work in this environment only stay 20 minutes and that is with the heaviest of cold weather gear available. Luckily, I only have 15 items in the freezer and 5 minutes in there and I am GONE.

The balance of my items are in coolers at 27°F, but these too have high speed fans making the chill factor somewhere around 15°F. I have tried working this cooler without gloves but 10 minutes in there, you have no feeling in your hands. Double lined cotton gloves enable me to stand the cold and make date and quantity notes on my inventory control.

Why do we do this? The 2 hours spent in this cold environment assures me that the products you buy in the grocery store are fresh, rotated properly, and have 60 to 90 days on expiration. This a quality assurance part of a sales job that only the sales rep will or should do. No one takes care of your product better than you do. I depend on the perishable management to do a good job, but they are managing much, much more than my line and cannot see what you see when you are focused totally on one line or brand of products.

A perishable food warehouse ships 10's of millions of dollars each 'day' to member stores. We, the sales rep, if we or I am doing my job, must make sure you get my product as fresh as possible.

So each Tuesday, it is putting my body through this 3 hours in the coolers and freezer for freshness control and assurance. The next time you pick up that pack of bacon or frozen dinner, you now have a keyhole view of what it takes to get it there as fresh as possible. Everything is on computer as a laptop is my constant companion. Years ago we took those orders on paper as well as inventory but not now. Everything is on computer, everything. Speed is now needed in managing orders and inventories. I think back and wonder now how we did it without our computer. Maybe it was the fact we it was a smaller task and the world moved a little slower. I wonder about the next generation of perishable sales rep and what he will have?

Chrismon Tree and Hanging of the Greens

The second Sunday in Advent is special to me and all the members of the First Presbyterian Church of Bessemer, Alabama. This Sunday is extra special as that is the day we turn on the lights on the Chrismon tree(s) and the hanging of the greens.

Our church is one of the older churchs in Bessemer and is located downtown. I kid people when they are looking for directions to the church and I tell them "we are across the street from the county jail". Why do people seem to know where the jail is? I am getting off the subject. Today I served as usher and will for the month of December at all the activities leading up until Chrismas including our Christmas Eve service which is always really special to me and has meant to my family over the years.

The Chrismon tree is a large tree, maybe 15 feet high, decorated with handmade symbols, all in white or gold, and symbolizing all the symbols we all recognize as Christians. There are crosses of all variations, crowns, triangles (Trinity), mangers, stars, and everything we associate with Christmas. We started this maybe 25 years ago with the smallest of Chrismon tree as the decoration are so intricate and detailed that we had workshops for those that wanted to learn how to make these. The large one speak for themselves, but the detail and beads and foil in the tiniest ones, demand your examination.

We now have two of these trees, one on each side of the front of the church and lighted with tiny white lights. The work going into each of these trees is enormous as it takes a week of volunteers to get this all up between the first and second Sunday of Advent. Major ladders, long slender rods with steady hands to place the largest to the tiniest of ornament in the right place. We seem to get better at this each year.

Our church, from front to alter is a straight line with tall frosted glass windows reaching almost to the ceiling. The color of the sanctuary is off white and the windows are covered with beautiful adjustable shutters to allow as little or as much natural light in as necessary. The "Hanging of the Green" is part of the lighting service as the hangers are place about 1/3 of the way up and at the same time we turn on the lights, a family member hangs these beautiful green wreaths with beautiful red ribbon at the base. There are also two very large green wreaths hung behind the choir on the back wall of the sanctuary. This all happens so, so fast, tansforming the church from a season of winter, into the Christmas Season, virtually in a heartbeat.

I mentioned that this is the second week of Advent. We celebrate the 4 weeks before Christmas week by lighting one candle surrounding the large white candle in the center that is lighted on Christmas Eve. This week, a family lit the second Advent candle, the second of the 4 weeks recording where we are in the time and events leading up until Christ's birth.

Please remember what Christmas really is! Santa and gift giving is fine but remember the "gift" from God, who chose to send his Son to live among us, to be our redeemer. That IS our "Reason for the Season" as professing Christians.

Merry Christmas to all from the Jeff and Karen Nutter family. From our home to your home, may God bless you so greatly in every way at this most special time of the year.

Jeff Nutter 

Somewhere in Time, Her Time!!

The morning was cold and it had rained all night. I knew it was going to be a full day as yesterday I put Karen's car in the shop. Today it was bathe early, clear out of her hall bath, and most of all "mop up my mess". Tuesday is my only day on the road, starting early and working all day. Today adding taking Karen to work early and to make sure I was through to pick her up at 5:00pm.

I dropped off Karen and was away to Bessemer, about a 30 minute drive, to get my 90 year old mom up and going and I never know how she may be this early hour. I rolled up her driveway, and low and behold, the light was on in the dining room shining out into the yard. Mom is up!

She is up alright! I used my key and opened the back door that leading into her breakfast room and there, standing in front of her sink washing dishes is my mom. "What are you doing?" I asked. "I have just finished washing some things and putting them up", was her response. I looked more closely at her work and it was immaculate!

Now remember this lady has suffered from some form of demensia for a number of years but this morning, she was in a world of her own, in someplace in time, now cleaning her cooking utensils. She now was drying the last of them and had them spread out on dish towels neatly on her counter tops. I ask if I could help her and she said "I am just about through!". I opened the utensil drawer and she had put new aluminum foil lining in the bottom and the knives, forks, stirring spoons, spotless, sieves, we all in a nice neat row, ready for the next meal. I stood in wonder! She had not cooked a meal in over 3 years. But not in her mind this morning.

She had, from appearances, slept in her bed, gotten up early and "dressed" and even had on makeup and earrings. She had not eaten breakfast, so she and I had scambled eggs, toasts, OJ, and coffee together. For some reason, I felt real privileged to have been there that special morning of hers. She was in this "wonderland much like when I was a child!"

A newscaster used to sign off with the expression "and only you were there!" I was THERE, and only 'I' can really appreciate this as MY WORDS just not suffient! She will be 90 on December 9th, 2004, going on 100. Happy Birthday Mom!