Reindeer Rustling

If you don’t hear from me it’s because I’ve been hauled in for reindeer rustling. Someone decorated the office lobby for Christmas. Very nice – lots of greenery and poinsettias. A wicker reindeer stood between two chairs.

I thought it would be fun to move the reindeer across the lobby, to peek out from behind a different chair. I did notice that a couple of wicker sticks had broken off from the reindeer, but it wasn’t my doing. The next day (after the reindeer had been moved back) I moved the reindeer to a different hiding spot. I likened this to the ever popular Elf of the Shelf – every day people could look to see what happened to the deer. I kept this up for about a week, never yet getting too adventurous with the placement of the reindeer. I did think it would be fun to move the deer into other offices, and eventually upstairs next to the Christmas tree in the breakroom.

I thought the decorators would think the reindeer movement was all in fun. Thursday a note appeared on the reindeer, saying “please don’t move Bambi.” I just moved the deer back about a foot. By now my third-floor co-workers were discussing the adventure with me. When I was down in Macon on Wednesday Chris almost moved the reindeer herself, but someone was leaving at the same time. I went downstairs to Purchasing and mentioned the decorations, but no one said anything about the reindeer. But I was just talking to certain people.

Monday in the breakroom Chris mentioned the mysterious reindeer movement to Jan and Teresa. They said three ladies were upset about the reindeer, about the broken sticks as well as some poinsettia leaves that had broken off. They enlisted operations to review the security camera to detect the perpetrator, but the camera didn’t cover that part of the lobby. Guess I’ll have to come clean. We’ll see if today’s Christmas lunch they serve to me is tampered with.

PROTESTS: interesting that the NBA is allowing players to wear those T shirts in protest – it’s anti-police. The League doesn’t want to ruffle feathers with a large portion of their fan base, but instead they’re making their security forces mad. It’s a microcosm of the country we live in. Same with college players wearing those shirts.

Seems like Satan has blinded the eyes of a large percentage of not only our country, but the entire world. Evil is being allowed to come in and take over society and governments – without much of a protest. The government supports the protesters and leave law enforcement no method to defend themselves, much less defend the public and businesses that pay the very taxes that run the government. ISIS publishes guidelines on who to make women sex slaves and there is little outcry or government response. Surely we are living in the end times. But who am I to talk, with all the reindeer rustling I’ve been doing.

Was at NPCC last Friday night for the first time since they built that big glass foyer area between the east and west. M’s school had their Christmas service in the Attic, which had also been expanded since the last time I was there. M sang in the school choir and read a Bible verse. Afterwards we ate at El Felix at the Avalon. Nice place. Ceil bought a real tree at Lowes on Friday. She hooked up the lights before meeting me at Matthew’s Christmas service. She finished decorating the tree on Saturday. The mantle is also decorated. Not sure what happened to the stockings.

Saturday night I drove M out to his friend’s house in Douglasville. Since I’d have to pick him up in a few hours I went to Arbor Place Mall and walked for 1-1/2 hours. Then he decided to spend the night, so I drove home alone. Thought of you when I was creeping on a cool Hispanic dude wearing a Georgia Tech cap – a rare sight. My wise friends would say to keep my distance, but I snuck a photo anyway. I’d love to go to the Tech / Syracuse game. Guess I shouldn’t wear my orange shoes.

Worked til six Monday night then hung around later to pay some bills. Ceil baked chicken and scalloped potatoes. Also salad. Anna had a Christmas dinner at her church leader’s house. C and M ran to Trader Joes. I cleaned up some emails, researched the bowl picks, and cleaned the kitchen. Wrote the 2014 Murphy Christmas letter on Monday. Will did go to Cartersville for a couple of days, but returned to Athens late Saturday to study for two more finals. I’ll take his Jeep to Tire Deals some time over the break. Ceil is working the Passion Conference at Phillips Arena Jan 2-3-4. That Sunday PCC will have one big worship service there. Ceil thought last year worked out well with me driving her down there and picking her up, so I’ll be doing that again this year.

Bowl picks - I did some research for mine Monday night while Ceil was snoozing on the couch, and am almost finished typing up the first half – all the games through Dec 29. Need to crank out the second half of my bowl picks and create my 2015 computer calendar. Already have my 2015 scrapbook calendar, but I still have plenty of work to do to finish my 2014 scrapbook. Early in the year I had worked on 2014 a bunch, but haven’t done much since things got busy in late August.  

Saw a TV news story about the Hawks players bagging groceries before Thanksgiving. I didn’t recognize any of the players faces. Had meant to tell you that Louie Giglio has jumped on the Hawks bandwagon. Several musicians and other leaders have been long time fans – that’s who took Matthew to a game the past two years.

We had a decent Christmas card this year because Anna took charge. All I had to do was address the envelopes. I’ve been starting to formulate 2015 goals but have had plenty of 2014 stuff to finish. Things are just starting to slow down and I’m starting to make a little headway.

BRAVES: Seems like Hart bought some goodwill with his 27 Yankees statement. The offseason fans are worse than those in season. My next tweet: Parking at the new Braves stadium shouldn’t be a problem if all the fans stay away that say they’re staying away.