Pondering, Christmas Preps, Generosity

Sometimes when Fiorella wakes up in the morning, she lies abed for a while pondering herself. Fio's done so many dumb, stupid things in her life, things that make her cringe and hang her head in shame and embarrassment. Then she thinks of all the heartbreaks she's endured. Maybe it all evens up.
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Warning--Fio starts Christmas decorating tomorrow, which means she'll be up on a ladder hauling down a giant plastic trash bag stuffed with the tinsel she hangs from branch to branch along the driveway each year. But this year she's going to try using clips to hold the tinsel in place instead of the wire she used last year and the string she used in years before.
Warning # 2--Fiorella has sketched out this year's Christmas card and will be finishing it off in a few days. It won't have a religious theme, like many of her cards have had, nor is it political, like last year's card was. Instead, the card will celebrate what Fio considers to be the most wonderful historical event in 2017--the birth of the first baby in Husband's extended family in thirty-five years.
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Want to know what makes Fiorella cry? A newspaper story about a wealthy man who, on accidentally learning of the need, gave $800,000 to a local traditionally black college to buy Steinway pianos for its music department. Fio hopes that if she ever has that much moolah hanging around, she will be just as generous.