Remember as a child when you played hide and seek? Remember how you would cover your eyes and count? Then you would speak those immortal words: "Ready or not, here I come." Do you get the feeling this time of year that you can hear the voice of Christmas like Marley's ghost saying to us, "Ready or not, here I come."

The next few weeks will be filled with so much activity, all the parties, the shopping, the visits to Santa. I like the story about the grandmother who took little Anne along on a shopping trip. After watching her grandmother choose and buy gifts all morning, Anne was taken to her promised visit to Santa Claus. She made her requests politely, and as she started to leave, the jolly gentleman handed her a large candy cane.

"What do you say?" prompted the grandmother.

Little An…