The "Twelve Days of Christmas: Part 1" Story

It was an ordinary day. Waitin' to see what I get for the "12 Days of Christmas." Don't you get something for each of the 12 days of Christmas? I'm sure you have heard of the English Christmas carol by that name that enumerates a series of increasingly grand gifts given on each of the twelve days of Christmas. The twelve days in the song are the twelve days starting Christmas day, or in some traditions, the day after Christmas (December 26), to the day before Epiphany which is January 6th. A bit of modern folklore claims that the song's lyrics were written as a "catechism song" to help young Catholics learn their faith, at a time when practising Catholicism was discouraged in England (1558 until 1829). There is no evidence supporting this claim, and no evidence that the claim is historical, or "anything but a fanciful modern day speculation." Regardless of the origin of this idea, a number of Christians give the following meanings to the gifts:

Gift	Interpretation
A partridge in a pear tree	Jesus
Two turtle doves	The Old and New Testaments
Three French hens	The three kings bearing gifts
Four calling [sic] birds	The four Gospels
Five gold rings	The Torah or Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament
Six geese a-laying	The six days of Creation
Seven swans a-swimming	Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit
Eight maids a-milking	The eight Beatitudes
Nine ladies dancing	Nine fruits of the Holy Spirit
Ten lords a-leaping	The Ten Commandments
Eleven pipers piping	The eleven faithful Apostles
Twelve drummers drumming	The twelve points of the Apostles' Creed

I like to interpret the song my own way and therefore have decided what I would like for the 12days of Christmas to bring me. DAY 1: ONE VISIT to Dr. Nicole at Neffsville Veterinarian Clinic to provide shots and a general exam for our "outdoor" cat we call Creamsicle (Orange and white colors). She was probably dropped off near our house a few years ago and has adopted us as her new owners. She is still somewhat apprehensive about coming in the house, but will enter the back door for treats and petting, but then "freaks out" until we re-open the door for her to leave. Carol and I have gained her trust over the years and I believe we could put her in a carrier and get her the medical treatment she deserves. DAY 2: Two new tech toys to make life easier for me. Don't care what they are, but something such as my GPS system or my Kindle. The gifts are up to the giver! DAY 3: You knew this would have to be on my list - Three healthy vacations! By healthy I mean vacations where Carol and I are both healthy enough to go on vacation and enjoy ourselves. Seems to be slightly harder to do as we age. DAY 4: Four rubber tires for the Mercury Mountaineer. We have owned our Mountaineer for 5 years now. We have looked at replacement cars for quite some time, but have come to the conclusion that we love our car and want to keep it. We drive it very little as shown by the 39K miles on the speedometer so the 15 to 19 MPG that we get aren't really a factor to us. Our last payment arrives in another month, so we decided to buy a new 3 year warranty that will cover a gadzillion things that may go wrong with the car. We do need to replace the tires soon, so hence, it made my list for Christmas.DAY 5: Five new novels to read so I can take them on the healthy vacations that I hope I'll be getting. Most of my favorite authors have one, or in one case, two new novels. Books such as Stuart Woods' D. C. Dead, Clive Cussler's Devil's Gate, the late Michael Crichton's Micro, and the prolific James Patterson's 11th Hour and Private. DAY 6: Six gallons of ice cream. I have many favorite flavors and the six gallons certainly won't last me forever, but maybe six gallons of Peanut Butter Twirl would be a start. Well, I have my list half finished and will share some more about the carol "12 Days of Christmas" with you and complete my list in my story tomorrow. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.