Action Items

This little gem was a gift to our children from friends perhaps 15 years ago and it is one of my all time favorites. For variety, it begins on December 6 (Saint Nicholas' Day) which means we have to exercise a bit of patience, wait a bit longer each year to use it, but it's worth the wait. It's long and skinny and needs a flat surface, and often gets moved around and knocked off of counters, but then, the best things in life aren't necessarily "convenient" or "easy", right?

Rather than doors to open, there are paper figures that slide out from behind a frontispiece, and it's heavy on little gnome and fairy type characters with friendly animals thrown in for good measure. Some of the parts slide horizontally and some drop down from behind clouds...the 18th of December never HAS stayed up where it belongs and needs to be taped from the back, untaped at its appointed time.

These are "action figures", if you will.

Action.

"Go and see!"

"Go and tell!"

"Go and teach/share/speak/feed/clothe!"

History is full of actions waiting to be done, often by people who didn't think they were up to the job at hand.

What action is calling you?

* * * * * *

In answer to those who wondered "Just how many Advent calendars do those people USE, anyway?" I'll say that this is the last of "ours". Tomorrow, I'll move on to others that have struck my fancy...or my funny bone.