On Friday morning, December 23 – the eve of Christmas Eve – I was feeling a need to go somewhere since we were having a quiet Christmas week.

We had our family’s Christmas celebration on December 4 because some of our family – especially grandchildren – had many other family celebrations. Having the meal early meant that each of our Pennsylvania family could attend.

When Cerwin came to the living room with our morning coffee, I asked if he wanted to do something “brave” that day – like going to a new (for us) Costco for some supplies we needed. 🙂 I chose that store because we had a $32.00 Costco check to spend.

He liked the idea, and upon checking the directions, learned that Harrisburg Costco is a bit closer than Lancaster Costco – where we usually go.

We left the house shortly before 2 pm – planning to shop then get supper at a steak house.

The trees in our area are quite bare of leaves these days.

With bare trees and ground cover, we can see deeply into woodlots.

Our first stop was Bass Pro – just to see what they had. We both enjoy this store.

We didn’t buy anything.

Costco isn’t far away from Bass Pro, but late afternoon Christmas traffic made the trip around the city quite slow.

It was difficult to find the usual things we get there because the store is set up quite differently, but we weren’t in a hurry so did eventually find everything we wanted.

As we were ready to check out, I looked for the shortest line and chose the first one. The line was long, but it was one couple with three carts – including two very large TVs and some other expensive-looking things – thinking this line shouldn’t take so long.

I noticed two men in black overcoats nearby and immediately thought there was a security problem in checkout. I was also trying to figure out if they were in our line or the next one. I followed their eyes and soon knew they were guarding someone.

Cerwin was talking to the man with the TVs – checking on the deal he got – and was oblivious to the men standing next to me.

The two men did not appear to have purchased anything, so I became more and more convinced that they were bodyguards for the couple in front of us. After the couple paid for their equipment, I paused a bit to see if the two men in black would move forward and go through the checkout.

They moved in lock-step and handed the clerk a Costco card. He handed them a piece of paper and they followed the couple with the TVs out of the store.

I do wonder who was in the checkout in front of us. 🙂

Later as I thought about that experience – after watching their eyes looking back and forth across the checkout lines, I thought about the blessing of having a God who does the same thing for me. He goes before me, guards each side of me, and is also my rearguard.

Thank you, Lord, for giving me a live example of having a bodyguard.

Because of the busy traffic in Harrisburg, we decided to go to the Outback Steakhouse in Palmyra. Can you guess what town we are going through in the above picture?

If you guessed Hershey, you got it right. 🙂

I enjoyed a few Christmas lights along the way.

The Roadhouse was busy and noisy, but the food was delicious. Cerwin got steak tips, I enjoyed shrimp and seasoned rice.

By the time we got to Mountain Road – our turn-off road from Route 72 – we hadn’t seen many Christmas lights, so Cerwin (knowing I was hoping to see some Christmas decorations) asked if I wanted to see Gloria Burkholder’s lights. Of course I said, “Yes.”

Shortly after passing Mountain Road, we came upon the above house and yard that were fully decorated – along with Christmas music. We stopped, watched the many moving lights and listened to the music.

At the south end of Manheim we came upon these decorated cars – giving the appearance that a police cruiser had stopped the one in front of it.

Santa Claus was in the cruiser.

Gloria’s beautiful property

As you can seek by her lake – it was a beautiful, calm evening.

From there we went home by Kreider Farms to see their silo.

Oh, what a delightful evening.