Page 18 - DEC2021 Digial Issue: Barbecue News Magazine

Vic Clevenger
Chimney Cartel
victor0568@gmail.com
When eight-year-old Virginia wrote her letter to the New York newspaper, The Sun, she was perplexed with one question, “Is there a Santa Claus?” She only had one Christmas wish, is the guy in the red suit real? A lot of her friends were saying the Jolly Old Man didn’t exist and when she asked her papa, he passed the buck to the newspaper. This question still stumps all the children her age as well as many adults. But, in the words of editor, Francis Church, “Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus.”
If I had the chance to speak to Virginia, who passed away in 1971, I would ask her if she had a Christmas Wish List ready, in case she received confirmation the North Pole resident would indeed be crisscrossing the world at Christmas. By all accounts, she also would have been on the “Nice” list and rewarded with her wishes. Undoubtedly, her list was full of little girl wishes such as a doll or
a puppy. Much like our lists at that age, we’d have practical and unpractical requests. Remember what Kris Kringle told little Susan in Miracle on 34th Street when she told him she wanted a real house?
As we get older our wishes evolve to more realistic requests as we look for the happiness of those around us. But for this Christmas article I am going back to requesting a few things for myself. Al- though I am puzzled about letting you know what my wishes are. Do the rules of telling people your birthday wish as you blow out the candle apply to your Christmas wish? Well, I think I’ll take my chances and tell you a few of them.
Blessings
The first of my Christmas wishes would be some blessings. Before I go any farther allow me to say, I am extremely blessed. Everyone is healthy, I have the career of my dreams and I’m not hungry. What more can one ask for, other than more of the same? Sure, I could ask for the blessing of a winning Powerball ticket (I wouldn’t turn one down) but money isn’t everything. In the words of Luke Bryan, “You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy dirt.” Blessings come in all shapes and sizes. It’s the important things which really matter.
Regardless of the size of house or yacht, health hits us all. I just watched a list of celebrities we lost this year and realized one’s health is an equalizer regardless of fame or fortune. The other blessing, I would like to continue having is the career I’ve dreamed about for years. I get to write articles for various publica- tions while traveling the country cooking. So, this next blessing about not going hungry just goes hand in hand with the previous blessing. Friendship is also a great blessing. Remember the quote from the angel, Clarence, “Dear George, remember no man is a failure who has friends.”
Peace
Perhaps you’re a lot like me and wake up in the middle of the night with your mind going full speed. A lot of times I will be awakened by thoughts for articles, business ideas or something I’d like to cook. During these times, I am so awake I begin to won- der if I’ll ever sleep again. Other times, however, my eyes will pop open with my thoughts full of the questions of life and not the philosophical kind but the anxiety kind. I’ll lie awake full of doubt, stress and now I’ll go through the day tired which also worries me. We’ve all been there, sometimes more often than we would like, but we’ve been there.
Christmas wish number two would be peace. Not the Miss Amer- ica kind, although that would be great, but the inner peace which
A Christmas Wish
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