Lance, Joydee, The 'Realness of Santa,' Curious George & Mrs. Doubtfire

OK. You're probably wondering about the title of this entry, for sure. Let me explain...

Saturday, I went to speak at a womens' craft day retreat at Camp Shiktehawk in Bristol. Bristol, NB, not Bristol, England, although that might be a possibility for me some day. I took Doris with me for this event. It was a great day -- we went to a snowman making class (yes, it is THAT time of year again, believe it or not). Seems to me it was just yesterday when D and I were making "Frosty," and all his brothers and sisters last winter. This time we made giant snowmen out of fabric and spent the morning sewing his parts together -- the most difficult part was the nose, for sure. I didn't get to finish mine because I had to prepare for my talk, so Tammy and Doris finished him for me. We named our snowmen "Lance" (my snowman), and "Joydee"(Doris'), and they sat in the back seat all the way home in the van, capturing my attention in the rearview mirror every once in awhile and scaring me. After awhile I decided to think of them as angels traveling with us, and I calmed down.

I spoke after lunch -- "Christmas Memories, Christmas Celebration" is what I named my exhortation. I made them laugh quite a bit, as I shared my memories of Christmas and the season surrounding it. Had some props -- a doll, half of a Barbie body (she's 50 this year, you know, like myself), a video of Linus on the Charlie Brown Christmas special, etc. At one point in my talk I said something like, "and then there was the time when I discovered Santa wasn't real." "Oh, is there anyone in here who thinks Santa is real, by the way?" (with a smile). I continued to go on and on about the 'let down' about finding out Santa's un-realness, when I noticed some ladies in the crowd were hand signaling me to look to my left. In my peripheral vision, I noticed a little girl sitting there. Of course! This would happen to me. So, I started ranting and raving about how Santa was 'so REAL!' "When I found out he was real, well....!" and so on. The crowd burst into laughter as I made a huge comeback, and I think I convinced EVERYONE that Santa was real, including the little girl, I hope. If it didn't work, her father (who was the camp director), could just tell her that I was insane and not to believe me.

There was more to the talk than that of course, but you should have been there. And it wasn't taped. I hope I get to present it again. I had a lot of fun, and it was filled with singing carols and Christmas songs for everyone to participate.

After my talk, we went into workhops again and I chose a cardmaking workshop that was so stressful that I thought I was going to have a fit. The card was much too complicated for my brain and ability, but I did manage to finish it, after crumpling up my half-finished card in my hand and trying to escape that session to go finish my snowman. But the teacher caught me and made me start again. I must admit, though, it is beautiful.

Doris and I went on a road trip to Windsor (no, not England, but outside Coldstream, wherever that is), and then to Jon & Alicia's house in Carlow (NB). Had supper and playtime with the kids and I made up a couple of songs on the piano for the kids. One about having a rainbow in my pocket (because Afton said the word "rainbow," my rainbow word for the day was presented to me once more), and a song about Jack in the field with the John Deere tractor. They certainly were original songs which I played hysterically on the piano, and I can't remember them today, although Alicia videotaped the Deere one.

We made it home late and I slept fitfully. Woke up today with a lot of pain, knowing I needed a day of rest. Had breakfast with Carolyn, webmaster extraordinaire. I'll skip over to later in the day.....I've been trying to find the movie "Mrs. Doubtfire," and went to Jumbo Video the other night to inquire about its availability -- NOT. Today, tried again at Blockbuster. The clerk gave me a brusque, "NO, WE DO NOT HAVE IT!" So I walked out, wondering how I could get my hands on this video. Nurse Cherry has a copy, but she lives in Europe and I haven't time to fly to Europe this week. She says that perhaps I'm like Mrs. Doubtfire, and I need to see why.

Anyway, I called Carolyn and told her I was looking for a copy of this video. Carolyn said, "Oh, I'm at a flea market at Kings Place, perhaps I'll find it for you here." Yea, right, I thought, but gave her encouragement, not thinking she would find this movie, since two reputable video rental places do not have it, with NO explanations why it's not rentable anymore.

About two hours later, Carolyn shows up at my door with a plastic shopping bag. She is so excited. "I have gifts for you, Deb!" She pulls out the first one -- a Curious George wind up doll, which she got for rock bottom price, that I can use for a prop in my shows for children. I was very excited about this, always loving the books of Curious George, and I actually think I am Curious George sometimes, because I am curious about absolutely everything. Then, she pulled out a beanie baby breast cancer bear and gave it to me.

Then, she pulls out Mrs. Doubtfire VHS tape, and we scream and dance around the room. "Hear the story, hear the story!" she yells. She went to a vendor's table and there were many DVDs and VHS tapes. She asked the man, "Do you have Mrs. Doubtfire? == DVD or VHS would be fine. It's for a friend." "No, that particular title is hard to find, and if I did have it, it wouldn't last long. Someone always snatches that one up." He knew the titles he had for sale, and he KNEW he did not have Mrs. Doubtfire. She went away a bit disappointed.

After perusing the flea market for awhile, she and her husband, Brett, came back to the same table. She looked down -- there it was, staring her in the face: a VHS copy of "Mrs. Doubtfire," at the opposite end of the table from where the vendor stood. She yelled to Brett, "There it is! There it is!" She grabbed it and got the vendor's attention. "Look! Look! Remember me? It's here -- "Mrs. Doubtfire" is here! He smiled and said, "Yes, it WASN'T here when you asked, but awhile ago, SOMEONE came and TRADED it for something else." (Perhaps it was an 'angel' that traded it...Lance?)

AMAZING! ONLY GOD! NOT A COINCIDENCE, FOR GOD IS THE GOD OF COINCIDENCES, AND DEBORAH MACDONALD DESIRED TO WATCH "MRS. DOUBTFIRE." (At least that's what I believe). I cried when she gave it to me, because I knew that God cared for me, in this small detail, found the movie for me, and PLACED it in front of Carolyn. Isn't that awesome!

We watched it this afternoon (Doris came over, too), and we laughed our heads off.

There, that is like the BELIEVE story from last winter. Nothing is impossible for God. This weekend, He helped me make a huge snowman named Lance (who sits on my veranda now), an intricate card, recover from my 'Santa Claus' faux pas, receive my own Curious George, and delivered an impossible-to-find movie into my hands.

I'm not doubting today....I'm believing!