AS THIS ARTICLE goes up on the Tucker Paving blog site, it is the 13th day of December 2017, leaving 12 days to go until The Big Day — Christmas Day.

That reminds us of a holiday song — one that we now won’t get out of our head for quite some time. That would be “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” of course. You know… the one that drives home the point — a dozen times — about a very special partridge in a pear tree.

Some easy research on the Internet reveals and confirms that there really is a Twelve Days of Christmas, but, contrary to popular thought, it’s not an observance leading up to and including Christmas Day. Instead, it’s actually an extension of the Dec. 25 holiday. The Twelve Days of Christmas, also called the Twelvetide, is a festive season to celebrate the nativity of the newborn Christ Jesus. In many Western church traditions, Christmas Day is the First Day of Christmas, with the Twelve Days running through New Year’s Day and concluding at midnight on Jan. 5.

With the lyrics of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” as a guide, we’ve done the counting and discovered that what “My True Love” gives his or her significant other isn’t just 12 gifts but 78 in all — in 12 categories. You can do the math, too, to check us. The holiday giving consists 12 drummers drumming, 11 pipers piping, 10 lords-a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids-a-milking, seven swans-a-swimming, six geese-a-laying, five golden rings, four calling/collie birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and, of course, that partridge in the pear tree.

If we at Tucker Paving could give to or wish for our blog-reading public a gift for each of the Twelve Days of Christmas, what would they be? Well, we’ve given it some thought and come up with the following — each with a fond Tucker Paving connection of one sort or another:

  • Smooth motoring on a newly resurfaced asphalt road or highway.
  • Safer traveling at and through improved intersections all over Central Florida.
  • Well-maintained parking lots with not a pothole in sight.
  • A long surfaced driveway leading up to the hacienda, rather than an old dirt path.
  • A fun time in the cab of a big company dump truck for one or more of your children during a school show-and-tell day.
  • More convenient parking in the multistory parking garage across from the Polk County Courthouse in Bartow.
  • For those with the required skills, an appreciation for construction and a “can-do” disposition, an opportunity to build a career with our company.
  • A fun-filled family kind of day at any of the Central Florida theme parks — from Legoland Florida Resort in Winter Haven to the Walt Disney World Resort to Universal Orlando Resort.
  • Happy shopping, dining and movie-watching at Disney Springs.
  • A million man-hours and more of work time — and play time, too — without a loss-time accident or injury.
  • Great friends, great team players, and great colleagues — like all of us have here at our company.
  • And, matching or even surpassing the ones we’ve enjoyed in 23 years at Tucker Paving, wonderful blessings at your company or in your line of work.

All of us at Tucker Paving in Winter Haven wish everyone a “Ho-Ho-Ho!” merry Christmas, a wonderful and enjoyable Twelve Days of Christmas to follow, and a very happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!