time for christmas crackers!

She'll be here soon, so I'll make this brief. I finally can give the Seussian Christmas crackers I made to my great-nieces!!!

"She... you mean your first niece??? She's coming from Hinesville on a weekday?"

She is! She sent me a text this afternoon, so I told her I'd be home instead of at the book reading at Asbury Memorial. It's part of the Savannah Book Festival that was held last weekend.

"I'm sure she would have understood if you wanted to attend that."

Hey, she has Girl Scout cookies that I need to pay for, so that's got some priority. Mostly, though, I really want to see her and the girls. It's been months since we've been together!!! That's why I still have the Christmas surprise I put together for each of them!

"I see. I think Cedric Stratton would get quite a kick out of those."

I agree.

"So, what's inside those little packages?"

The inside flap has a bookmark from a One Hundred Miles about shorebirds, as well as a large sticker that says "READ" from the PINES library event. 

"Those will be nice surprises for the children!"

They should be useful, for sure. Then, inside the package is a variety of items. The biggest item is the ticket for a free game of mini-golf! I'm hoping that I'll be invited to come along when they return to town to do that. (smile!) Then there's the beaded necklace from Las Vegas - four different ones, so each girl's will be unique. The Christmas-decor pencil and Christmas-themed eraser cap were from a fundraiser at their schools, and those were all different, too. Oh, and I included a mini Tootsie Roll. No cracker would be complete without candy!

"Oh, I know those are going to be very popular gifts!!! Which girl gets that one?"

That's for Miyah. She has the blue-cube necklace and the Santa eraser. Chloe has the gold-cube necklace and a reindeer eraser. Alyssa will get a gold-beaded necklace with a snowman eraser! And Leila's cracker will have a green-beaded necklace and green tree eraser. I guess I'm fixing to find out how well I chose those items for each!

"I guess you are!"

I have no doubt that Christina is going to love the "Coat Of Many Colors" ornament. That's not only a good Bible story and a fun musical, but Dolly Parton has forever immortalized it in song. Yes, I'm sure she's going to like that! I'm just hoping the girls will remember playing putt-putt with me on vacation. That was two years ago.

"Yes, that's a long time for little ones. All the more reason for y'all to go to Bogey's and make some new memories together of that experience!"

Yes, that's right! I'm trying to give them an experience this year, not just a gift. Okay, let me get down here before they arrive!