Reflections and Inspirations
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send your username and password to you.
One Lone Noel
It’s beginning to look NOT like Christmas. No snow, not much store shopping, limited family gatherings. Kind of Ho-Ho-Hum. So, I thought I would add some Christmas cheer by sharing a story about Christmas creativity.
I am a real bargain shopper, so when I saw that if I bought two large Noel signs for my front yard that I could get the third one free, I jumped at the chance. Never mind that I really only needed one. My plan was to order three, send back the two that I paid for and keep the free one! How’s that for a plan? I may have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night!
Well, quicker than expected the three packages arrived. You can imagine my dismay when I dragged out the letters, one by one, and the letters spelled L-E-O-N! All three packages contained the same four individual letters! L-E-O-N! Now, what was I to do?
Time for some creative thinking! I laid the individual letters out before me. Perhaps I could mix the letters in a different way to spell something Christmassy. I thought I had found my solution when I realized that I could spell Neel Leon. I figured I could place those two words beside my nativity. I was dismayed when a friend, who had noticed my lawn letters, called to inform me that that was not how to spell neel. Looked right to me, but just to be sure I called my friend Lana, who is an excellent speller. “How do you spell Neel?” She said there were two different spellings. (Actually, I had invented a third, but some people are picky about spelling) Not wanting to upset anyone, I decided to accept Lana’s suggestions. Lana informed me that some people spell Neil, with an I, and some spelled Neal with an A. An I and an A! Neither of which did I have. Drat!!!! So, there went the “Neel Leon” idea. I gathered my lawn letters and started again.
I lined my letters up LLL-EEE-OOO-NNN, and, went to reorganizing them into words. For those who love this type of word game, try it! I came up with 12 words, not all of which I am convinced were actual words, especially if you are picky about spelling. For example, Lol is used all the time, but technically does not qualify as a “word.” Besides Lol didn’t seem to work well with the serenity and peace I wanted to portray at this Christmas season. I realized I could spell “No No Ellen,” but again, it just didn’t have that Christmas ring. Then, I found the perfect solution. With my letters, I spelled
“One Lone Noel.” There was even a Noel in there with an extra L left over! Sometimes I amaze myself!
So, sorry Leon, but I am going with ONE LONE NOEL. It just fits the season better than LEON, LEON, LEON.
Contributed by Carolin Primm