RFD
By Bonnie K. Taylor General Manager The True Citizen

My brother's Christmas gift to us was a few days at the Isle of Palms, S.C. It was a great-relaxing time with our families.

I finally got to meet my niece Maria's boyfriend, Travis. They have been dating for some time and it was high time he met her family.

We went walking on the beach and when we returned, Travis jokingly said, "Santa came while you were out."

"No, we responded." He said, "Yes, he did. Check the fireplace."

We went over to the double-sided glass-door fireplace, and we saw a trapped bird.

I don't know what kind of bird it was, but it was about three-fourths the size of a pigeon with a long beak and large talons.

He was desperate to get out. No one wanted to hurt him, nor did we want him loose in the house. Jokes about bird flu were exchanged. "Don't touch him ... he might have a disease ... oh he's got his foot caught in the fireplace screen ... don't hurt him ... should we call the beach patrol? ... 911?

Finally someone wise in the group of seven adults said to get a rag to put over him. A dishcloth was retrieved from the kitchen to place over the bird.

One person got on one side of the fireplace and one on the other.

One shooed the bird to the other side and draped the rag over it and coaxed it into the giant Christmas gift bag being held by my husband, Eddie.

Eddie quickly closed the gift bag with bird inside and took it to the porch, opened the bag and let the bird go free.

We all gave a sigh of relief when he flew away. We were all so exhausted. We quickly found a seat and flopped down and began laughing about all of the hullabaloo of the trapped bird.

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By the time you read this column, Christmas will have come and gone and New Year's will be on its way in.

I hope you are working toward a New Year's resolution that is realistic and attainable.

I wish for you good health, wealth and happiness!

I leave you with thoughts to ponder the closing of this year sent to me via email by Stephanie Winfrey.

• Life is sexually transmitted. • Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

• Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day, teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks. • Some people are like a Slinky, not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.

•Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

• All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

•Why does a slight tax increase cost you $200 and a substantial tax cut saves you $30!

•In the 60s, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

• We know exactly where one cow with Mad-cow-disease is located among millions and millions of cows in America, but we haven't got a clue as to where millions of illegal immigrants and terrorists are located. Maybe we should put the Department of Agriculture in charge of Immigration.

•Life is like a jar of Jalapeno peppers. What you do today, might burn your hiney tomorrow .

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Noah's Ark Missionary Baptist Church has set up a special fund to assist with the burial expenses of Carrie Habersham and her son, Julius Thomas Jr., who were killed in a car accident recently. Proceeds will also be used to defray medical expenses for Clarissa Thomas who was seriously injured in the same accident.

Contributions can made to: Noah's Ark Missionary Baptist Church, P.O. Box 927, Waynesboro, GA 30830.

****** I know I join others is saying, "Thank you, Lord," for the much needed rain we've received in the past week.