Another Jingle Bell Christmas in the Tree (standard:humor, 902 words)
Author: Godspenman	Added: Dec 24 2023	Views/Reads: 449/218	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
You will eventually be found out, no matter how careful you think you are. God knows everything, and we will be held accountable. The best advice is to be honest.

It doesn't seem possible another Christmas has come and gone. They come
and go so fast that I'm not sure I can keep up with all of this. Every 
year, our family has more people, which is never bad. 

One thing we do is gather as a family around the Christmas tree and
enjoy a wonderful time of fellowship. We will open our Christmas gifts 
together and just laugh at all of those gifts. 

After the gifts are opened, we play a game called "Jingle Bells on the
Tree." 

What it is, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage will get together a
bunch of Jingle Bells. They will be different colors: blue, yellow, red 
and green. 

This game is new to me, but with The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage,
nothing seems to be new. Along with the colored Jingle Bells, there is 
a little box filled with tickets: each ticket has one of the four 
colors associated with the Jingle Bells. 

The idea of the game is that the box with the little tickets is passed
around, and everyone would have to pick a ticket. Now, the color of 
that ticket matches the color of one of the Jingle Bells. 

If, for example, you pick a blue ticket, you would have to get up and go
to the blue Jingle Bell and jingle it for at least one minute. While 
that was happening, everybody was clapping and singing, "Jingle Bells." 


I'm not sure where she came up with that idea, but I never know where
she comes up with any of her ideas. But everybody enjoys the little 
game. 

As I was sitting there participating in the game, the kitchen table was
behind me. On the kitchen table, I had my coffee. I occasionally took a 
sip and then put it back on the table. But, also on that table were 
several plates of Christmas cookies. These were the cookies that The 
Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage had baked in anticipation of our 
Christmas gathering. 

I never thought too much about it, but this year, just before everybody
came for the Christmas dinner and celebration, The Gracious Mistress of 
the Parsonage told me I could only have one cookie. As she said that, 
she handed me one cookie and then said, "This is your one cookie. Do 
you understand?" 

Of course, I understood. I smiled and shook my head as I munched that
delicious little cookie. 

A thought began dancing in my head as we played the game. I love it when
I have a thought, which, by the way, is very rare. 

That thought had to do with the cookies on the table behind me. All the
cookie plates were within reach because God gave me long arms. Now I 
know why I have such long arms. 

How am I going to take advantage of this family game time? Nobody was
paying attention to me; everybody was watching the person going up to 
ring the Jingle Bell on the tree. 

I casually reached back, got my coffee, took a sip and returned the cup.
When I did that, my thoughts began to crystallize. 

It boils down to this: whenever someone picked a ticket and went up to
the tree to ring the appropriate Jingle Bell, I could reach behind me 
and pick a cookie. Everybody was so focused on the game that nobody 
realized what I was doing. 

I must confess I was smiling quite a bit because I was getting away with
something, and I did not believe I would get caught. 

I cheered the next person going up to ring the Jingle Bell as loud as I
could get away with. Everybody was focused on that. While that was 
happening, my right arm reached behind me to collect the next cookie. I 
munched on that cookie while everybody laughed, clapped and sang Jingle 


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