Grandma’s Christmas Treasure Chest

A Christmas Story for the Magic Treasure Chest

Preset: Prepare the treasure chest load chamber with small individually wrapped candy canes.  Inside the bottom portion of the chest place an old Christmas stocking with one candy cane inside and a plastic orange and apple.

Story:  My Grandma had a magic treasure chest that sat on her bedroom nightstand.  Each Christmas she would bring it out and share a story of her first Christmas memory.  From the chest she would remove an old sock and a couple pieces of fruit.  (Back of chest should be facing audience.  Open chest away from audience and remove items from chest.)  The fruit was a reminder of what she always found inside a stocking on Christmas morning.  Her family was poor and although it doesn’t seem like much to us today, it was a real treat to her.  This was long before the days of Gameboys and X boxes.  Back then the word “we” was still a pronoun.

The old sock was her first Christmas stocking.  As she showed the old ragged sock, you could see the pride in her face.  In her eyes that old sock was the greatest treasure on earth.  I suppose that’s why she kept it in a treasure chest beside her bed.

She would go into detail describing the Christmas morning when she woke to find a single red and white candy cane in her stocking. (Remove candy cane from sock.) We don’t give much thought to candy like this today, because we can find it almost any time of the year.  But she had never seen such a treat before.  She could smell the powerful scent of peppermint.  To hear her tell the story made me believe that peppermint must be the fragrance of angels.

She told us how her own mother described the meaning of the peppermint stick.  In the late 1800’s a candy maker in Indiana wanted to share the meaning of Christmas through his work.  He took a plain white peppermint stick and added 3 red stripes and then curved the end to make a cane.  The white of the stick would represent the purity and sinless nature of Jesus.  The red stripes would represent the blood Jesus shed so that we might be pure in God’s eyes.  And the 3 stripes would represent the Holy Trinity.  Finally, the curve of the cane had a double meaning.  Since it resembled a shepherd’s hook it represented Jesus as our shepherd.  And if the cane is turned upside down it resembles a “J” as a reminder that the season is all about one gift, the gift of Jesus to mankind.

As she came to the end of her story her smile seemed to stretch a mile wide.  She knew what was about to happen.  She also knew the true meaning of Christmas couldn’t be found in a stocking on a nail.  The meaning of Christmas was to give from the treasure chest of the heart.  (Place sock back inside treasure chest.  Close, pull pin and turn box to face audience.)  Just as God had given from His heart when He gave Jesus to the world as a sacrifice for our sin, that kind of love can only come from the heart.  That’s the love of unselfish giving.  I hope this Christmas you’ll remember the legend of the candy cane and the opportunities you have to give unselfishly.  (Open box to reveal candy canes.)

Jesus, Gentle Shepherd, this cane of red and white
Proclaims the sweet love story born on Christmas night

This cane, you see, when turned around begins your name of love
And now becomes a symbol of peace proclaimed above

The lively peppermint flavor is the regal gift of spice
The white is your purity and the red your sacrifice.

And so this cane reminds us of just how much you care
And like your Christmas gift to us, it’s meant for all to share.

(Author of poem unknown.  Story by Barry Mitchell)

The Magic Treasure Chest is only available from Barry Mitchell Products.  This is a VERY LIMITED EDITION item.
www.BarryMitchellProducts.com

The Wisdom Bag

The Wisdom Bag is a presentation for the “Idea Bag” magic trick. The prop is available at www.TruthsAndTreasures.com

Scripture References
James 3: 13 and 17 and James 1:5

Script
Have you ever heard your Mom talk about a “hope chest?” It’s a chest that ladies fill with items they want to use when they get married. You might say those items give them hope for a happy life.

I brought a different kind of hope chest to show you. It’s my wisdom bag. Wisdom is a big word that I like to describe as “knowledge applied.” In other words, using my best ideas in the best way.

James 3:13 says, “Are any of you wise or sensible? Then show it by living right and by being humble and wise in everything you do.” (CEV)

Inside this bag is the wisdom I use in my daily life. (Turn bag upside down.) Oops, it looks like my wisdom bag is empty. I would hate to think I used it all up yesterday.

Wait, the Bible also says in James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” (NIV) That means if our wisdom bag is empty, all we have to do is ask God.

Of course we can’t see wisdom. But we can see the results of wisdom in our lives. In James 3:17 we find, “But the wisdom that comes from above leads us to be pure, (produce box 1)
Wow, it’s a gift box. Reminds me of how God gives us wisdom. James 3:17 (CEV) goes on to say that the wisdom from God is also; friendly, (box 2) gentle, (box 3) sensible, (box 4) kind, (box 5) helpful, (box 6) and genuine and sincere. But it looks like I ran out of gift boxes. (Place boxes back inside bag.) I guess it’s a good thing I ran out of boxes because I also ran out of room inside my bag. (Show all boxes fill bag.)

You can be overflowing with wisdom too. According to the book of James, all you have to do is ask.

I brought a gift for you. It’s a wisdom bag. Actually it’s just a paper bag but inside the bag are all the verses from James that we talked about today. You can think of it as your Wisdom Starter Kit.

Find more ways to share the truth of scripture through the treasure of magic and stories at www.truthsandtreasures.com

Mom A-Musings

My Mom
I moved my Mom in with me in 2009. Because of her memory loss, she can no longer live alone. We have good and bad days, so I write jokes about our adventures to cope with the stress. Hopefully these Mom A-Musings will give you a little stress relief as well. Here’s the best part, all these jokes and stories really happened.

Water on the Wall
On a visit to my hometown of Sweetwater, TN, I took my Mom to a local country-cooking restaurant. I spotted a clear plastic bag filled with water hanging on the wall. My curiosity got the best of me and I asked the waitress for an explanation. She said, “You’re not from around here are you?” My first thought was, “Yes, but we don’t hang bags of water back at the old home place unless there’s a gold fish inside.” My second thought was to not be a smarty pants so I lied and told her, “No.” She said, “It’s to keep the flies off the tables. They think it’s a hornets nest and they don’t come around.” Then I thought, “What self-respecting fly would fall for a cheap trick like that?” So I looked around and sure enough, not a single fly on my table. I looked at my mom and said, “Did you know about that?” She smiled and said, “Yes.” Then she said, “I asked last week.”

Men and Dirt
Mom never had any energy at her own home but when she moved in with me she began to clean my house. She cleaned the sink with a toothpick. I had no idea it needed a deep cleaning. I mentioned the story in Sunday School and someone said, “Men can’t see dirt unless it’s deep enough to support agriculture.”

Stationary Fireworks
Mom and I watched the fireworks on television on the 4th. There were also several fireworks in our community. She would point out which ones she liked best and she kept saying, “I like the stationary ones best.” It took me a few minutes to realize the stationary ones were the streetlights.

Head in the Clouds
My Mom loves to look at the clouds when we ride in the car. It’s one of those simple joys we all overlook. Since her memory is going, she tells me every five minutes how much she likes the clouds and how the shapes remind her of animals. It’s a childlike wonder but every now and then, we need a reminder of God’s beautiful work and plan.

Barry Mitchell

Knock Before Entering

Following my recent emergency room visit my doctor wanted more tests. By the way, why is it called an emergency room visit? For the price I paid I’m not a visitor, I’m family.

My doc said, “Since you’re in your late 40’s, let’s go ahead and schedule a colon-oh-my-gosh-to-me.” I figured, why not, that ER visit will certainly use up all my deductable. Oh, was I wrong on that one! It was just last month that I changed my insurance to a $5000 deductable to lower my premium, because I never get sick.

Part of the procedure for a colon-oh-my-gosh-to-me is buying a laxative and a really big jug of draino. It’s the first time I’ve done this and I noticed an interesting product placement at the Wal-Greens. The laxative and underwear are on the same aisle. The laxative was in a green box while the anti-diarrhea medicine was in a red box. It’s a little like a traffic light - green means go and red means stop.

When the pharmacy clerk sat my little green box and my really big jug of pipe cleaner on the counter, I said, “I’m going to get my pipes cleaned one way or another.” There was no response from her. I thought it was funny. Those pharmacy people just don’t see the humor in a good medical procedure.

For this wonderful occasion which was going to hurt right down to the bottom . . . of my wallet, I wanted to do something special. What could be more special than creating a memory for the doctor/pipe snake operator? I had a friend write a few words on my cheeks – yes, THOSE cheeks. The right side said, “No flash photography please.” The left side said, “Knock before entering.” Thanks to Steve Kissell for the idea. He’s had more colon-oh-my-gosh-to-me’s than any man I know. I think he’s starting to enjoy them. By the way, when a friend writes letters on your bottom with a Sharpie it tickles quite a bit. Be sure the laxative’s effect has completely worn off before doing this.

The procedure when off without a snag. At least they didn’t tell me if they snagged on anything. It was actually NO PROBLEM at all. Of course I haven’t seen the bill yet. BUTT, on a serious note. If you’re heading toward that age where you might need a little garden-hose-look-see, I highly encourage you to go for it. Don’t believe the people that might say it’s uncomfortable. It really was no problem at all and if they do find something it can SAVE YOUR LIFE. BUTT, don’t forget to write something on your cheeks.

And finally, for those of you that know me personally, I am officially no longer full of it!

Emergency Room

I woke up with a pain in my side. Little did I know the pain would turn out to be in my wallet. After a day and night of pain I decided to go to the emergency room. It must have been my lucky day as I was the only one there with insurance and was immediately sent to the end of the line.

During the Doctor’s exam, he pushed on my side and found the pain. He continued to push as if to say, “Are you sure.” I don’t like that doctor.

After removing half of my allotment of blood for testing, I was taken for a cat scan. I tried to explain that I don’t even own a cat. I knew this was going to be expensive. They say these scans don’t hurt, but I could already feel my bank account bleeding.

The machine looks like a giant donut. My appetite came back immediately. The doctor finally came in and said I have diver-tick-u-lie-tus. That’s Latin for “pain in the gut.”

They finally sent me home with a prescription. Be sure to carry a knife if you ever go to the ER. Without one it takes about ten minutes to gnaw through the hospital name bracelet.

A couple of days later, I went to see my personal doctor for a follow up. He asked if I was still in pain. I said, “Yes, but only when I breathe.” He had a suggestion.

He said my cat scan also revealed kidney stones. Oh joy! This means the rolling stones are just waiting to take the stage.

He told me to expect at least a week of pain. He said it could all happen again and told me how to eat. The good news is the diet during the infection stage is all junk food - white bread, potatoes without skin, and anything without fiber. As soon as he told me what I shouldn’t eat, I had an immediate craving for broccoli. But following the doctor’s orders, I’m going for donuts.