My favorite day in December

There is a day in december that, for me, is one of my favorite days of the year

.It’s not the thirty-first or even the twenty-fifth. This year the day was the Twelfth of December.

The 12th of December this year, marked the annual Buckners Children’s Home Christmas Party. For some twenty years the staff and friends of Buckners hold a christmas party for the kids.

Like most Holiday events there is plenty of food, Holiday decorations good cheer and LOTS of presents for the kids. For almost as many years local groups, like motorcycle clubs, automobile clubs and off-road vehicle clubs have joined in on the day, giving a little of what is precious to them. A muddy ride in a jeep, a spin in a sports car or as many laps as you want on the back of a bike.

For the past two years It’s that last group that has brought me to this event. This day of festivities and taking these kids for a “ride” around the facility has become my favorite time of the holiday’s. So often we take for granted that for most of us as kids we had a typical home, with parents who cared and brothers and sisters who were, well, brothers and sisters.

These young folks, for whatever the reason have come to stay at this place and the staff there work to give them the love and stability they need in there young lives. Each year I go and it’s the same thing, kids, who usually are reserved and shy, perk up. There eyes grow large and the smiles are huge. “I want to ride that one,… no that one!” “Don’t worry”, we tell ’em, “you can ride them all, as much as you like.” And ride they do. From the littlest to the oldest as many laps as they want. Bailing off the back of the bike at the end of the run, to get back in line to ride with another “biker” and his ride. The guys in the Jeeps and the Corvettes have the same “problem” as the Bikers.

Hauling that precious cargo you must be ever alert and cautious. But it’s tough to concentrate with that lump in your throat. Then one comes up and give you a hug and thanks you for the ride and tells you how they look forward to this day the whole year. The act of giving, even if it’s just the gift of something we take for granted every day, the feel of the road, the wind in our face and the sound of motorcycle rumbling as it pulls away, this “giving” is the best of the Holiday Season.

Merry Christmas dh

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