THE ELF AND THE CANDLES

In the bookstore we usually wait until after Thanksgiving to put up our Christmas decorations (Thanksgiving being a holiday we don’t want to forget). but this year we decided to decorate early…figuring we need all the Christmas we can get. Which means our decorations are up…and two of them are specifically worth noting… Buddy, our elf is hidden on the shelf…and up high…we have our candles floating Whosoever finds our elf as they search our store shelves high and low gets to use the power of our magic wand…to make our floating candles glow. Yesterday four children from the same family were excited as they explored each shelf and even more excited when they screamed, “We found the elf!”. One by one they took the magic wand in hand and running to and fro… repeating magic words…they made our floating candles glow. A few minutes after this family completed their magic and exited the store A middle-aged man and his elderly mother walked in through the door. The mother asked me, in a whisper, if she could use the magic wand. and was beside herself… when I said, “Of course you can but first…you need to find the elf.” Which she was excited to do…then happily took the wand and…walking to and fro… repeating magic words she made those floating candles glow. I’m glad we decorated the store early this year… After all…isn’t that is what Christmas is all about…. to remember magical times when we were children and as we grow older to remind ourselves to let that child out! And I have to say I think it’s working because as I watched the faces of the two different families… and felt how their excitement filled the store… between their faces and the candles…. I couldn’t tell… which ones were glowing more.