What Do You Want For Christmas?

Before I do anything else today, I want to wish my dear friend Jim Lewis happy birthday. I’m not going to tell you how old Jim is, but let’s just say that what we all studied as history in high school was current events for Jim.

And now, on to Christmas shopping. Miss Terry is a difficult woman to shop for because she doesn’t want very much in the way of material things. Whenever I ask her what she wants for Christmas, her birthday, our anniversary, or whatever, she always says she has everything she wants.

Once in a while, she’ll let me buy her a bottle of perfume, and I’ve managed to get her a few pairs of earrings over the years, but that’s about it. I guess I should be grateful, she’s not only gentle on the eyes, she’s gentle on the pocketbook, too!

I, on the other hand, am easy to shop for. I want everything! I’m like a chimpanzee in a department store. If it lights up, makes noise, goes fast, or tastes good, I want two of each. Why do you think my friend Brenda Speidel calls me Gadget Boy?

I love wandering through the tool section at Lowes and Home Depot, even though I know it’s kind of like going to one of those stripper bars. Most of what I’m seeing I have no idea what to do with, and I’d probably just end up hurting myself if I tried.

Of course, living in a motorhome for so long did put some restrictions on my wants and desires. I really missed my hot tub from our life before fulltiming, but I never could figure out where to put one in a Winnebago. And now that we are off the road, there is no place to put one here, either. Believe me, I have tried to find a way.

But that’s okay, because there really is very little I want, and nothing I need that I don’t have. Most of the things I have wanted in the past, I’ve owned at one time or another, including boats, a couple of Corvettes, some classic cars, and enough guns to arm a small nation. As it turns out, they’re all just things.

I’ve reached the point in life that my wants are not so much things, but rather experiences. We saw a lot of this old country in our many years on the road as fulltime RVers, and had some adventures that most people only dream about. But there’s so much left to see and do, and a lot we wouldn’t mind going back to see again, that if I could ask Santa to bring me one thing for Christmas, it would be more time.

Time to explore the quaint villages of New England. Time to search for seashells on the beaches of Florida or look for whales off the Oregon coast. Time to get to know the people in small towns in the Midwest. Time to visit all of those fascinating historical sites and oddball museums scattered all over this great land of ours. Time to sit with a dear friend and shoot the breeze, or to not say a word and just enjoy each others’ company. Santa, can you figure out a way to stick an extra 50 or 75 years in that bag of yours?

How about you? What do you want for Christmas? A new RV? A flat screen TV? A GPS unit? Or maybe a new laptop computer? Or are you like me? Does your wish list include time for more experiences rather than things? Tell me about some of them.

Today is your last chance to enter our Free Drawing for an audiobook of The Driving Lesson by my friend Ben Rehder. While Ben writes some excellent mysteries, including the wildly popular Blanco County series, this tale of a boy and his grandfather on an unplanned road trip across the country is a coming of age story that will tug at your heart strings. To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn this evening.

Thought For The Day – Side effects of Cialis may include dragging two bathtubs outside to sit in to watch the sunset with your confused but supportive partner.