The things children do

'Draw a picture showing the main event in your book' was the task a child had been set. I was looking through their work in class and a dinosaur had been drawn. I looked through the book they had read. It was about a horse. I questioned why they had drawn a dinosaur when there wasn't a dinosaur in the book. The reply....(looking shocked why I'd asked) ...'because I can't draw horses and I can draw dinosaurs'. 

Owls

Owls are a bird that features prominently in the myths and legends of a variety of cultures. These mysterious creatures are known far and wide as symbols of wisdom, omens of death, and bringers of prophecy. In some countries, they are seen as good and wise, in others they are a sign of evil and doom to come. There are numerous species of owls, and each seems to have its own legends and lore. 

The owl was known as a harbinger of bad tidings and doom throughout Europe, and put in appearances as a symbol of death and destruction in a number of popular plays and poems. For instance, Sir Walter Scott wrote:

Birds of omen dark and foul,
Night-crow, raven, bat, and owl,
Leave the sick man to his dream --
All night long he heard your scream.

Even before Scott, William Shakespeare wrote of the owl’s premonition of death in both MacBeth and Julius Caesar.

Grandma and Santa Claus

Well worth the read... Merry Christmas!

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid.

I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" she snorted..."Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumour has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun. "Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping.

For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.

I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church.

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class. Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; he didn't have a good coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!

I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.

"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. "Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."

The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it.

Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa's helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going."

I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma.

Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were -- ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.

I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.

Author unknown

When you are sad

My oath to you

When you are sad, I will dry your tears.
When you are scared, I will comfort your fears.
When you are worried, I will give you hope.
When you are confused, I will help you cope.
When you are lost, and can't see the light,
I shall be your beacon, shining ever so bright.
This is my oath to you, I pledge ‘til the end.  
Why? You may ask... because you are my friend.

Friends

Author Unknown

Friends love you tops when you are at the bottom.
Friends look up to you when the rest of the world is looking down.
Friends lets you step on their toes to help you get on your feet.
Friends show you the meaning of true friendship, not the meaningless of it.
Friends shoot straight with you, not at you.
Friends know most of your faults and care the least.
Friends tell you when you are wrong, and not everybody else.
Friends don't complain when you neglect them, only when you neglect yourself.
Friends let you worry them more than their enemies.
Friends want to know about your achievements as well as your losses.
Friends are behind you when you're taking bows and beside you when taking boos.
Friends don't split with you, when you flop, but split what they have.
Friends are your best press agents and they do this for free.
Friends have no greater love than to lay down their lives for their Friends.

Thank you for being my Friend.

How did we survive?

1. Our sandwiches contained leftover roast chicken; we didn’t have fridges in classrooms or ice bricks in our lunch boxes, but we didn’t get food poisoning.
2. We rode bikes without helmets or adult supervision or bike paths but we mostly just ended up with scarred knees.
3. Our mothers wiped our faces with spit on a hanky not an antibacterial wipe.
4. Tuckshop was sausage rolls and cream donuts but kids were wiry and fast.
5. Our parents rarely knew our teachers’ names, let alone their NAPLAN prep strategy.
6. When our teachers would whack us, we wouldn’t tell our parents for fear of getting punished again, so we avoided trouble in the first place.
7. Our trampolines were netless and sometimes hosed with water and a squirt of Palmolive for extra slipperiness.
8. What was said on the playground stayed on the playground.
9. We went on camps and excursions without 18 forms to be signed and witnessed.
10. As toddlers, we rode in supermarket trolleys without padded trolley liner thingys.
11. Angry teachers were treated with caution. We just prayed for a nice one next year.
12. Weekends were about our parents’ social lives. As kids, we played murder in the dark while parents talked with their friends and forgot we existed.
13. Generally, we went to the closest school, not the best one.
14. Kids got scared before parent-teacher interviews, not teachers.
15. We got ourselves to Saturday sport and told tall tales about how the win was won.
16. Helping with the washing up was as important as homework.
17. Birthday parties were fairy bread and Fanta, not fruit kebabs and face painting.
18. When a kid was injured, people felt sorry for her parents. They didn’t ask what the hell were they thinking letting her climb that tree anyway.
19. Cubby houses were built by kids not bought from Toys R Us.
20. If you did badly in a test, you got a talking to, not a cuddle.
21. A pocket-knife was a perfectly acceptable gift for a 10-year-old.
22. If anyone got air conditioning in their bedroom, it was mum and dad.
23. Family holidays came before kids’ sporting schedules.
24. Your dad’s desire to watch Four Corners trumped your need to watch Battlestar Galactica.
25. A teacher could put mercurochrome on a scraped knee without obtaining our parents’ permission and completing an ‘incident report’.
26. A playdate was walking to a friend’s house, ringing the doorbell and saying, ‘Can Cathy come and play?’
27. School excursions happened without a ‘risk assessment’ and a two to one kid / parent volunteer ratio.
28. There was no padding on netball hoop posts.
29. No one wrote names on cups at parties.
30. You could offer your friend a bite of your hot dog.
31. If the bus driver yelled at you, the bus driver didn’t get in trouble, you did.
32. If you didn’t make a team, you tried harder or tried something else.
33. Pass the parcel had one winner.
34. There was one kind of milk. It was full cream and it was delicious.
35. Meat was bought at the butcher, and was packed without a use-by date. Our parents used their noses to tell if the mince was off.
36. Getting one present on your Christmas wish list was good result.
37. Drives of longer than an hour happened without supplies of rice crackers and juice.
38. Going to the shops/church/the nursing home to visit Nan was boring as hell but could be endured without an iPad.
39. School holidays were about not being at school, not soccer workshops, art classes and pony camp.
40. Being tired was no excuse for being rude.
41. You had to do something great to get a ‘student of the week’ award. Not just show up at school

Dogs

When God had made the earth and sky,

The flowers and the trees, 

He made all the animals, 

The fish, the birds and bees.

When at last He finished, 

Not one was quite the same.

He said, "I'll walk this world of mine 

And give each one a name".

He traveled far and wide, 

and everywhere He went,

A little creature followed Him, 

Until it's strength was spent.

When all were named upon the earth, 

In the sky and in the sea,

A little creature said, "Dear Lord, 

There's not one left for me".

Kindly, the Father said to him, 

"I've left you to the end".

"I've turned my own name around 

And have called you Dog, my friend!"