It was a crisp, sunny morning, a few days before Christmas. We took off with friends for a drive in the country, to a small town destination. Our first stop was a Mennonite bakery where we bought some tasty treats. Our next stop was a restored train depot. We ordered breakfast and sat down at a table near the gift shop area. This space was between the room with the order counter and a larger room with bigger tables. Soon after we sat down, women started filing into the larger room, heading to a Christmas party. We surmised this, because each one carried a wrapped gift.
I have always enjoyed wrapped gifts. Gift bags are great…they are practical, reusable, bio- friendly and beautiful, and I use them a lot, but a perfectly wrapped gift in splendid paper all tied up with a ribbon is special!
Wrapped gifts were mostly what we saw as women paraded into the big room.
Then one woman came through with a gift bag. Gary called out in jest, “oh, you shouldn’t have”…and she immediately pulled out a shiny, red apple from her bag and set it in front of him and said “Merry Christmas”.
It was delightful. We thanked her, and appreciated her spontaneity.
One single apple conveyed a lot of Christmas Spirit.
