Welcome back to the madhouse! I currently have one Rough Collie sitting on my feet as I write this post, her sometime friend is barking madly and loudly at my eldest son who is on his hands and knees tormenting her with a stuffed toy which closely resembles my dear departed Kerry Blue. Elsewhere in my bedroom, the least obtrusive visitor; Chocolate the Kitten, is sitting purring quietly on the bed sensibly minding his own business.
If it weren't for the noise disturbance this would possibly be a nice, happy gathering in the run up to Christmas day. Unfortunately this is proving to be anything but nice and it is certainly not quiet. Maybe this could be that with less than two days to go; I still have to wrap my gifts and put up the tree! The irony of this is that I have spent the day wrapping everyone elses gifts for charity!!!
Our wrapping service was offered free of charge. However, donations for the third world charity Bohair were gratefully recieved. Hopefully we will be able to buy a goat or two for one of the many impoverished African villages assisted by this charity. Not only do they offer agricultural aid in the form of livestock, they also provide education which will be passed from generation to generation.
The town centre was heaving with people, all of whom were making their last minute arrangements for the holidays. Many were glad to avail of the free wrapping service offered to them by the 1st & 10th Tullamore Scout Troup, more were not! It is a fact that roughly 65% the population pretended not to even see us as we proffered our good cheer and vital service to the community; some of the boys were quite disturbed by this, having never experienced such ill manners before.
It is also a fact that this is something which we all do; at some point in our lives. If we don't see something; then it doesn't exist! It is a game which we play with ourselves, in order to feel better about ourselves on those occasions when giving is just that little bit too much to ask of us. It may only be a smile; perhaps we're a bit under the weather today or something terrible has just occurred in our lives. Sometimes we just can't give because there is nothing left to give; and that's just fine.
The exception to this rule of course is when people who can no longer give choose to be rude or worse. It takes very little to smile, shrug our shoulders and take a deep breath before walking away. At worst the real harm done in these circumstances is done to ourselves, as the bitterness eats us away it begins to impact on everything else in our lives; even our health.
Thankfully today was a good day. People were happy and they were generous too. The boys learnt to accept the fact that not everyone was able to give and they chose not to let it upset their day. The 25% of people who did give had fun; we showed interest in what we were doing, made nice remarks at how tasteful their gifts were and generally had a nice time sharing a few minutes with total strangers.
Some of our customers; or benefactors came back to us time and time again. With each visit they would add even more generously to our collecting bucket, the camaraderie growing by the minute. From the very elderly to the very young, and all of those inbetween these people were truly generous.
While all this was going on LB; who is now 10, was busy helping DG and the menagerie to set up the house for Christmas. At the moment he is sitting as quietly as a mouse playing with one of his new favourite toys.
As for the other people; who had the gift wrap in their arms and were rushing home to do their own wrapping, I sincerely hope that they have as much fun as we did! Perhaps eventually I will be able to spend some time in my own home wrapping my own presents, but maybe not today! Just for now I need a rest, from the town centre, the scouts, the dogs and particularly my eldest son; who appears to be doing everything in his power to annoy me!
Ah well; tomorrow's a new day...!
Polly Px - mad woman extraordinaire!
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