A Christmast Surprise for Gramma

A Christmas Surprise for Grandma by Gloria J. Shuttleworth Grandma lived on Sugar Creek Mountain all alone. It was a beautiful mountain, with tall cedar trees all over the mountain top. In the middle of the mountain was a crystal clear lake. The water in the lake was the prettiest blue youve ever seen. When the water was calm, you could see the fish swimming around in the lake. I loved sitting by the lake when I was a little girl. Grandma would pack us a lunch, and we would sit at the lake for hours on end. Hour after hour, grandma would tell me stories about her life on the mountain. I remember the day that grandpa drowned in the lake. My parents had tried to talk grandma into moving into town, but she wouldnt hear of it. My parents knew not to argue with her, because they knew that grandma was set in her ways. Ive been on this mountain for so long that Ive forgotten which is the oldest, me or the mountain, grandma had said, with a twinkle in her eyes. I knew my parents worried about her being alone, because grandma was the only person who lived on Sugar Cliff Mountain. Today I was going to visit grandma, and the excitement grew inside me at the thought of spending time on the mountain once more. After all, it had been ten years since I had seen grandma. Its hard to believe that my career had kept me away for so long. As I approached the top of the mountain, I could see grandma staring out the window of her little log cabin home. Grandma greeted me at the door with a big hug. I am so happy that you could come to visit with me, said grandma. This Christmas is going to be so wonderful! I have a special surprise for you dear. Little did grandma know that I had a very special surprise for her as well. Well, we cant stand around here all day, said grandma. Theres a lot of work to get done. I have invited the people from the village to come to my Christmas party on Saturday evening. After I had freshened up a bit, we spent the day baking all sorts of cookies and candies. Grandma had a story to tell as we baked the goodies for the party. She told me about how she used to bake apple pies for grandpa. He loved apple pies, said grandma. Those were his favorite. She said that after the pies would cool off, that grandpa would send her into the living room, under the pretense that he would clean up the kitchen. Grandma knew what he was really up to, but she never let on that she knew. Grandma would go into the living room and sit in her rocking chair. She would sing some of the songs that she knew grandpa loved. About an hour later, grandma would wander back into the kitchen. Why Henry! she said kitchen, grandma retired for the evening. I made myself a cup of tea and sat down in front of the fireplace. Sitting alone in the quiet house, I pondered my childhood memories of my grandparents. They had always been such a fun loving and happy couple. Shortly after they were married, grandpa built the log cabin home for his Little ole Emmy, as he called her. Just before Christmas, almost twelve years ago, grandpa was outside gathering firewood, when grandma heard a horrible scream and a terrible noise. She ran outside to find that an area of the ice on the lake had fallen through. She yelled for grandpa over and over but no reply ever came. They searched the lake for over a week, but no trace of grandpa could be found. Finally, they called off the search. One of the men who had helped in the search said theyd probably never find grandpa now. Just then, as my thoughts were still racing around in my head, my grandmother brought me back to reality. We have to be up very early in the morning dear, so off to bed now, she said. I slowly walked to my grandmothers room, and kissed her goodnight. Morning came early at grandmas house. As I entered the kitchen I could smell the homemade biscuits and gravy cooking on the stove. Whats on our list of things to do today? I asked. The men are coming from the village this morning to put the lights on the trees, and we have lots of presents to wrap for the children, she said. Just then, there was a knock at the door. It was the men from the village ready to start putting up the lights. Grandma was so excited as she stepped back to watch them. Lets wrap those presents now Laura, said grandma. As I watched grandma wrap the presents and tie the ribbons, I knew that so much more was being placed around them. With each piece of wrapping paper grandma was also wrapping them with love. After the last present was wrapped, we realized that wed been wrapping presents all day! It was now getting dark outside and grandma wanted to go outside to view the lights. As we stepped out onto the porch, we gasped. The sight that met our eyes was so beautiful to behold! The snow was glittering and the reflection of the lights on the snow was beyond words! It was breathtaking! That night I went to bed with a heart full of love for my grandmother. I knew that someday I wanted to be just like her, full of love for others. Saturday evening the village people started arriving just after dark. Grandma always waited until evening to have her Christmas party, because she loved the lights. All the guests gathered around in the front yard and began to sing Christmas carols. Oh, how grandma loved that! Ole Ben was a jolly fellow who worked at the village store, and he was chosen to help Santa hand out the presents. The children shouted with glee, as they unwrapped their gifts. Grandma said, Laura, come here dear, I have a surprise for you. As she handed me the present, I could see the love and pride in her eyes. I love it grandma, I said, as I bent down to kiss her cheek, I will cherish it forever. Grandma had made a quilt out of some of my dresses that I had worn as a little girl. Grandma, if you could have just one special gift for Christmas, what would it be? I asked her. Without even stopping to think, she replied, I would like t o see your grandfather just one more time, so I could feed him the apple pie that the horses quit snatching when he left us. Just then grandmas face lit up like the lights on the Christmas tree! Everyone turned to see what grandma was looking at. Walking slowly toward her, with an apple pie in his hand, was grandpa! There was two slices missing from the pie that he was holding. The village people were speechless, as they thought they were seeing a ghost. Grandpa chuckled, as he yelled out, Emmy, those darn horses snatched the pie and got away with two pieces. Difference to me, but slowly my memory started to return. I remember now going out to gather firewood. There was a nice piece of wood on the lake. I thought the lake was frozen over so I stepped out on the lake to get the piece of wood. I remember hearing the lake crackle and thats the last I remember about the accident. Laura, how can I ever thank you for bringing grandpa home to me? asked grandma. Laura replied, Seeing the happiness and the love you have for each other is all the thanks I need. As Laura retired to bed that night, she couldnt help but think about the surprise that she had given to grandma for Christmas. She knew in her heart that it was the best surprise present that grandma would ever get. What a warm and wonderful feeling came over Laura as she fell asleep, thinking of her grandparents.

Cis week 5 classwork class discussions Assignment

Cis week 5 classwork class discussions - Assignment Example The company should also educate their employees on the risks involved if they give their passwords to strangers or any other person. Data is most vulnerable at the points where the computers of the company are connected to the outside world like the internet. It is important that the IT managers to implement necessary defenses at these points (Murphy & Zwieback D, 2011). Qualitative risk analysis is risk-level, easy and quick to execute, does not require any special tool or software and it is subjective in evaluating the probability and the impact of the risk. On the other hand quantitative risk analysis is project-level, consumes time, specialized tool may be required and it gives probabilistic estimates of time and cost. Business impact analysis being the determination of the impact an incidence can have, all the parties involved will be affected by one way or the other. People have to be compensated to their normal life they had from the incidence, and proper systems have to be in place to oversee that the incidence is totally mitigated. Data should be kept proper as this will amount on the total costs incurred in the analysis and properties should be rebuild again and the owners given their

The Importance of CSR at Nike Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Importance of CSR at Nike - Essay Example In recent times, it has been observed that expectations from an increasingly informed society are gradually pushing business to prioritize CSR and embrace initiatives that seek to comply with the expectations (Hollender & Fenichell, 2014: p55). This paper seeks to study Nike’s activities as one of the leading sports equipment and wear manufacturer and distributor, aiming to discover whether Nike complies with CSR objectives. The company has faced negative publicity regarding its labour practices especially, which necessitates the objective investigation of its practices to determine whether Nike’s adverse publicity reflects general practice and philosophy at the company. This paper will seek to investigate Nike’s CSR policy, practices that are consistent with this policy, and challenges to their implementation of CSR. Nike’s labour practices in Asia during the 90s were the subject of heated criticism, which threatened their position as market leaders and necessitated a redefinition of their CSR policy. The company put up a multi-functional team at the executive level to drive CSR compliance as a result, allowing for the refining of their production processes to improve environmental sustainability and cut waste (Detienne & Lewis, 2009: p362). They also turned their attention to the workforce and designed a code of conduct for their suppliers so as to ensure their suppliers adhered to Nike’s values, especially in providing healthy working conditions for their workforce. Nike has embraced CSR and tries to impress the same on all their suppliers and retailer, as well. The company also insists that its employees’ internalize their code of ethics and practice it, while also making the same code a benchmark for its suppliers. Its efforts at waste reduction won them the Gigaton Awar d that is awarded to companies in recognition of their carbon emission reduction efforts.