Kathy Williams

Each year she mixes up a large batch of oatmeal and glitter and secret ingredients that draw reindeer to rooftops and lawns. She packs it into snack size baggies and hands it out to her co-workers. Children lucky enough to know an elf like Millie can slip easily to sleep on Christmas Eve, confident that if Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner or Blitzen don't sniff out the oats, Rudolph's nose will reflect off the glitter and guide Santa's sleigh there.

Millie said she began the elfly duties when her now 24-year-old son was a lad. A friend of his had bought a baggie of reindeer food at a Christmas bazaar. The idea spread like lightning, she said, and all the kids had to have it. At peak production times, she made hundreds of bags of reindeer food, enough to supply school classmates and Scout troops. Now she's down to a few more than 50, handing it out to co-workers and friends of her grandchildren.

Being among the lucky ones who get her concoction each year, I have given them to my grandchildren. The lure has never failed. It's magic, you see, and helps the children drop off to sleep roughly 30 seconds after the finish of reading "An Account of a Visit From St. Nicholas," more commonly referred to as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas."

Christmas morning we were making breakfast in a kitchen with big windows around two sides. My daughter walked in, looked out the window and said, "What in the world is going on? What are all those squirrels and birds doing out there?"

No fewer than 20 squirrels were gathering in the backyard, scampering three and four at a time through the tree tops, bending limbs to the ground, jumping off, chattering like crazy. They rushed among busy flocks of birds. The ground was alive with fur- and feather-covered creatures.

Evidently Santa's reindeer didn't eat all their food on Christmas Eve. They left a bounty for the local critters. "Merry Christmas to all."

Happy birthday Tuesday to Darrell Rickerson, Dr. Fred Snipes, DeVon Rogers, Nyla Maxwell, Craig Davis Jr., Rob Yost and Craig Davis Jr., all of Sherman; Cynthia Tillett, Tom Bean; Sharon Templeton, Denison; K.L. Nichols, Van Alstyne; Shane Neasbitt, Colorado Springs, Colo.; Martha Tate, Luella; Charles Underwood, Howe; Donny Ferguson, Whitesboro.