John has already spent days decorating our house for Christmas. We have used the holiday dishes and drunk from the Christmas mugs. The angel collection is displayed all around the house, and the manger scene is on the front lawn. Yesterday we woke to snow on the ground and clear skies above. It was a lovely Carolina snow, leaving everything but the roads covered in white.

John, grandson David, son John $pencer, and friend Rose bought the tree. We learned the hard way that you have to get your tree early in this area. Today they drove past two tree farms that have already closed for the season. I’ll bet the locals would die laughing to find out that it’s not rare for New Yorkers to buy a tree on Christmas Eve. I really appreciated Rose’s taking a photo and sending it to me before they got home.

For the first time in 55 years, John set up the tree the same day he brought it home. It was marvelous having so many willing hands to help.

Rose saw the Christmas alphabet book and sat down to look at it. My childhood neighbor, Miss Lesta, made it for our daughters in 1973. The book was a shop catalog for cards, and she meticulously cut out pictures for each letter of the alphabet. Our children loved it, and so did our grandsons. Neighbor Logan was the third generation to read it. You can feel the love rising from every page.

M is for Music like carols so sweet That rang out at Midnight the Christ Child to greet.