Elsie's Notes from New England - THEMission edition

I love this story, and wanted to include it in my "Twelve Days of Christmas" on Facebook, so this is linked there. This story can be found all over the internet, usually cited "Author Unknown." The author is Carol Laycock, and her story is protected by copyright. If you click on the title of this post, you'll access a link to a website that presents the correct version of the story. An interesting detail is that in many online versions of this story, the final line reads, "I still have that Bible with the tag inside: $19.95." Neither the tag that supposedly fell out of the coat nor a Bible are part of the original story, which follows here. This story needs no dramatic embellishments. It stands on its own, and with dignity, unaltered. Merry Christmas to all! MY WONDERFUL GRANDMA December 1, 1999 Grandma is ninety-eight this Christmas. In spite of declining health, she forges on with characteristic determination, hope, and wit.

This time, I apologize that this entry is a duplication, but I finally have the photos to go with it. For those of you who have already read this, just enjoy the pictures. And you need to understand that these photos were not taken at the time I wrote this -- we didn't have our camera with us that night. Still, it works . . . Sometimes things that define a culture are the smallest, most simple details. Seemingly insignificant, they manage to represent a far broader reality than their actuality. In our family, we have a running joke about the Spanish Roadblock. This has nothing whatsoever to do with driving in Spain – thank heavens. Having done that a couple of times, I am completely content to walk 10 -12 miles a day and live without a car here. I’ve talked about the tiny, narrow streets. Far more dangerous and frustrating are the constant, unannounced and unexpected changes in direction of the many one way streets, the impossibility of making a left-hand turn, and the co