I called my sister today.
We talked for about 2 hours about Christmas.
"What was the best Christmas present you ever received?" I asked her.
“Oh, my God, Carol. Oh, I just thought of something.”
“What?”
“Peter and Paul gave Joe and I a hanger.”
“And that was your best gift?”
“Well, they were only about 5 and 7 years-old. They handed me a box, don’t you remember this?”
“Vaguely.”
“Anyway, they handed me and Joe a box, and I kept pulling out tissues and tissues. I thought there wasn’t going to be a gift, then I pulled out a hanger.”
“A hanger?”
“Not just a hanger. It had two tissues taped to it and two pennies. It looked…”
“Two tissues and two pennies taped to a hanger?”
“Yeah, we all busted out laughing, and I said, ‘What is it?’
And Pete puts his hands on his hips and says, ‘What is it? Well you can hang your clothes or blow your nose and you can buy some gum! What else do you need?’
Well, of course, this made us explode into more laughter. It was perfect!”

What a riot. My baby brothers stories are the best.
“What’s your best gift?” she asked after we wiped away our laughter.
The first thing that popped into my head was "A Rock."

My husband gave me a rock for Christmas 2 years ago.
It was a smokey topaz the size of my hand cut and polished but sort of oddly shaped.
When he handed it to me I said, “Uh, you got me a Rock?"
"It's supposed to represent the treasure of your soul," he said in a rushed voice.
"A Rock?"
"It's Feng Shui."
"Fenk what?"
He got a look on his face like I had just unintentionally sat on his hamster.
I was thinking, no, no I’ll never sit on the couch again, I swear.

"You don't like it?" he said.
"No, no, I love it. Really. It's a… nice...Rock."

Who can understand husbands?
I felt like Charlie Brown. All the other kids got Hershey bars, but… I looked up what this stupid rock meant in the Feng Shui (God, how do people remember all that stuff?) book he gave me. I think he was secretly trying to get me to clean house. You know, “placement of objects makes a difference in your souls ability to shine?” Moving furniture? Sounds like a guy trying to get a maid, to me.
So I put my rock in a box and forgot about it.

Then I lost my job.
I couldn’t think of a dang reason why they would let me go. I worked 16 hour days. Some people thought they could do my job in less time, but I tracked all their expenses. Well, sure their was that trip I screwed up on and well, yeah, I did overbuy from the caterer the last three times, but it was a discount! And there was teensy tiny mixup for that executive meeting, it wouldn’t have happened if I had the digital clock that told German, Texas and California time like I had now!
So I decided there was no real grounds for letting me go.
Then I remembered, maybe it was due to the rock being locked up in a box? Didn't seem like there was any other reason.
So I took the rock out and put it on the table in the living room.
The next day, I got a job, but my husband lost his.
So that night I quickly put the rock in his shoes.
The next day he got a job.
Then I thought, yeah, but I don't want Glenn to be my spiritual treasure, I want to be moving on my own power.
So I put the rock on my dresser and my boss told me “Well, you see, you’re yellow and what we want is Orange.”
(Which is really strange because the smokey topaz rock is yellow.)
So, I lost that job, but I decided to launch my own business, Hazel Street.

When I moved to Los Angeles I packed my rock away again.
Things have been kind of rough since the move. It took awhile to become acclimated.
But then, I remembered the rock last month. That was it. I was hiding my power.
So I took it out of the box and put it on my dresser.
The next day, I got a new client.
Well, that really convinced me finally of the power of the ROCK!
I decided I should really have the rock in a prominent place. So I could see my power right in front of me all the time.
So I put it by the door.
All of my clients paid me on time, and one paid me a year in advance!

Now, I'm scared.
What's going to happen next? Will I win the lottery?
Look out! That rock could go off at any moment!

It just goes to show you, put your heart in the place of your desire and your mind will follow.
Hope all of you get "A Rock" for Christmas.
I can't wait to see what he gets me this year!
Happy Feng Shui!

Now, class, your Holiday assignment is to remember your "best gift" and send the rememberence to Carol Wood at Carol@hazelst.com