Christmas

Do you ever have too much to write about? This happens to me a lot. I'll try not to ramble too much below.

~ • ~ Happy Christmas! ~ • ~

First and foremost, I'd like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas! Or for those for whom that's not possible, a tolerable Christmas.

~ • ~ Christmas Eve ~ • ~

I spent a lot of Christmas Eve day trying to relax. It was hard because after all the running around, my brain hadn't quite gotten the memo that it was time to RELAX for a day! So I'd relax a bit, then pop in on my neighbor, then relax a bit more, then pop back. She was cooking Christmas Eve dinner for her family and I was... er... "taste testing" ;) Later in the evening, she knocked on my door (around 9pm) and said "Why didn't you come by for Christmas Eve food?!" and I said "Uh... because you didn't knock on my door and tell me to?" So I went over for a few hours. We ate, watched "A Christmas Story" on TV, (I couldn't stop thinking of the bunny version!) and I watched her kids and grandchildren go nuts opening presents. It was fun. I had some of her leftovers for breakfast this morning and it was perfect.

~ • ~ Dinner With E & P ~ • ~

I spent Christmas day with my friends E & P and it was wonderful as always. The food and the company. But one thing was kind of... hmmm... what's the right word... Sort of prophetic? Semi-psychic? I don't know what the correct term here would be.

~ • ~ Semi-Psychically-Prophetic ~ • ~

Last night I was thinking about how much I enjoy spending the holidays with E & P and for a brief moment I wondered how I'd feel if Christmas dinner with them was suddenly cancelled at the last minute. I decided that I'd be disappointed but that I would be ok, except that I'd be concerned about what kind of emergency would cause a last minute cancellation of dinner. This thought was in my head for a while last night. It just kind of stuck there.

Today when I arrived, there was a very small table set (usually there's 6 to 12 of us) and I asked "Who else is coming? Is it just you two and me?" and they said "yeah maybe." It was a small group this year apparently. Most people were out of town, so the guests were going to be me and a couple. But there had been a tragedy in the couple's family the night before and it looked like they might not be coming. And yet, E & P were still going to have dinner, just for them and me. How nice is that? I mean I guess it's a "why not?" kind of thing but I don't know... It's nice that they 'd still go through all the preparations even if I'd been the only guest. Have I told you how much I like these guys? ;)

Anyway, I couldn't help being a bit haunted by my thoughts from the previous night re: what kind of tragedy might cause dinner to be cancelled at the last minute. I've never thought that any other year.

One of the members of the couple did come for dinner, and the other stayed at the hospital. I'm so glad she came. I told her that twice. I'm also glad it was just the 4 of us because I think it might have been more awkward for her if there'd been a larger group present.

I've been in similar situations and it's awful to have something huge happening that's shaken your whole world, and to walk into someone's home for what's supposed to be a "Happy Christmas celebration." You want (need) to talk about what's going on because it's the only thing on your mind, but you don't want to bother anybody or bring down the mood. Meanwhile, everybody else wants to know what's going on but they don't want to pry or bring YOU down.

I don't do "elephants in the room," especially when there's a tragedy involved, so as soon as she got her coat off and had a drink in her hand, I told her I'd been filled in a little on what happened and asked her how things were going. The news was not good, and she, her husband, and his family will be going through a very difficult time in the next few days. I will be thinking about them a lot.

~ • ~ Singing For My [Christmas] Supper ~ • ~

On a lighter note: Later in the evening we had what seems to have become a tradition when I spend Christmas with E & P. It's a long story (which I may go into another time) but the short version is that I pretty much have to "sing for my supper" when I spend Christmas with them.

P assigns me a song a couple of weeks or more in advance (usually something completely obscure that I've never heard of) and I am expected to learn and perform it on Christmas. This year they realized I hadn't sung yet when just the three of us were there. -I don't know how many of you have performed professionally or non-professionally, but anyone will tell you that it's MUCH harder to perform for one or two friends than it is for a group of people. MUCH harder! But I did it, and they laughed at all the right places -always a good thing- particularly at the point in the song where I rip the head of the Santa Claus doll -which one of them said they may have to include in their Cabaret act next year.

More rehearsal for this would have been good. It's very hard for me to keep a straight face without a lot of pre-rehearsal and, as you know, my week was a little hectic so there wasn't a whole lot of time for me to prepare this song. Still, it was fun. (But I would have had more fun with it if I could have kept a 100% completely straight face during all of it!)

~ • ~ The Kids ~ • ~

I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about the kids from Operation Santa Claus today. I thought about them last night when my neighbor's grandchildren were tearing open their gifts, I thought about them first thing this morning when I woke up and realized they were probably opening or playing with their gifts at that moment, and I thought about them a couple of other times during the day. I imagined the kids I'd seen, and the parents I'd met. Tomorrow I'll mail the gift to the last kid. I've already written a note to her mother telling her to tell her daughter that the gifts fell off the sled and Santa had to go back and find them, or to tell her there are 12 days of Christmas so the gifts aren't really late!

Operation Santa Claus 2007
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | A little more here | The Last Delivery
The Letters | The Gifts

~ • ~ Thankful ~ • ~

There's so much I'm thankful for today. It almost seems silly to list them because they seem so obvious to me. E & P (as always), my song going as well as it did and getting all the right laughs and more. Their friend coming for dinner. Everything that went so well with Operation Santa Claus. Getting my familys' gifts to them in time and their seeming to be happy with them (They're always the hardest for me to shop for) My neighbor M. Holiday clothes that fit (and clean laundry!). Health that allowed me to enjoy today. There's just so much.

I said in my very first thankful post that not everything in my life is good all the time. A lot of bad things happen too. But no matter how bad things may be, I never lose sight of how good other things are. That's not to say that when I look at the good stuff the bad doesn't seem so bad anymore. -Some people are like that, but I'm not! The bad stuff is just as bad! Good stuff does not make "bad stuff" any better for me. But likewise, bad stuff doesn't affect my ability to see, and to be truly grateful for, the good stuff. It's kind of partitioned and sectioned off in its own little part of my brain. And for the good things, I am always grateful, and awed that they're in my life.

~ • ~ A Quiz ~ • ~

Did you study? Were you taking notes?

Nah, I'm kidding. But I figured I'd finish off this post with a quiz I found on Functional Shmunctional's blog.

Your Christmas is Most Like: A Charlie Brown Christmas

Each year, you really get into the spirit of Christmas. Which is much more important to you than nifty presents. What Movie Is Your Christmas Most Like?

Interesting result. Is that how you'd interpret a Charlie Brown Christmas? Lol! All I can think of is the sad little tree! :D What kind of Christmas movie are you most like?