Oh, What A Lift To My Day

I always get cranky by this point in the season, sad to say.  Trying to get everything done and keep everything clean and fulfill everyone's holiday expectations just overwhelms me.  Wish I could just let things go, but it doesn't seem to be in the cards.  Anyway, it came as a tremendous surprise when I received the following text out of the blue from a dear geocaching friend.

Santa left something for you and your mom at (latitude and longitude coordinates near my house.)

Intrigued, I hopped in the car as soon as I finished making the kids' lunch.  The coordinates took me to the base of a big tree at an intersection three quarters of a mile or so north of my house.

There, I found this.

When I opened it, I found two small packages wrapped in festive red and white paper.  One was addressed to me, and one to my mother.

This was in my package.

It may be difficult to tell from the picture, but that ornament is handmade from cherrywood.  The technique is called fretwork.  This particular friend is a retired shop teacher and a master woodworker.  He and his wife frequently eat lunch at a restaurant near my house; I am going to guess that they dropped off the gift on their way.  I do know what is is my mother's package, but I won't show it here since she reads my blog.  Mom, you will love it though!!

Merry Christmas to me (and Mom) from a very kind friend who lifted my soul today and reminded me of the true spirit of the season.