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Saturday, December 25, 2021

The "Merry Christmas To All With The Showing Of The Woods' Family Calendar" Story

It was an ordinary day.  The calendars that my wife had recently made had arrived.  For many years now, Carol has made an 8 1/2" X 11" monthly calendar which she gives to each of our three children as a Christmas gift.  The top half of the calendar is filled with color photographs of family activities while the bottom half sports an actual calendar with important dates such as birthdays and anniversaries and plenty of space to write in your own appointments.  Carol has made the calendars at Costco for quite a few years, but this year she tried Walmart which is close to our home.  On Christmas morning, when we have 10 people gathered around the tree opening presents, no one will open any gift until each family has had the chance to open their calendar.  That's all they talk about every year when they all arrive for brunch and opening gifts.  The cover this year featured Carol and myself sitting on the front porch of our home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  It may be the last time we celebrate Christmas in this house, since we have applied for a place at a local retirement community.  The 1 acre property is beginning to get the better of us and it will get worse as years pass by.  So, next year's calendar may have to opened in a new location, provided our new home will be large enough for 10 people plus gifts and our annual Christmas tree and decorations.  A few of this year's calendar photographs follow so you can see what draws the excitement as we gather around the tree.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The cover of Carol's 2022 calendar

This photograph is on one month.  Features Carol and myself and our 3 children.

This shows one of the pages that has photographs on it.

This shows what one of the months looks like with photos on two days.

One final month which has pictures and events on special days.


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