Posts Tagged ‘Christmas eve’
Wilting Winter
It doesn’t do any good to complain. I know that. That doesn’t seem to sway me from moping about the recent destruction of what started out to be a fabulous snow season this year. It melted big time, then refroze. Next, it warmed up again and rained, turning the snow on the ground into snowcone slush. Since that time, we’ve had some sleet mix and a dusting of flakes that covered the crusty frozen surface.
The snow cover is now a crunchy mess of greatly reduced value for most forms of recreation.
We received about a half-hour notice last night that somebody was coming to pick up the 85 bales of hay that the nutritionist frowned on feeding our rescued Thoroughbreds. Bad timing for me, since my back was teetering on the verge of a painful disc problem all day.
Somehow, both my degenerating spine and my bum shoulder survived tossing bales, and the shed is clear to receive a fresh batch from a different supplier next week. That put a crimp in our plan to sneak away to the lake place in Hayward for a few days after Christmas. We were given a date and a time when the hay would arrive, and that was that. We weren’t about to argue. Our response was, “Thank you very much.”
When someone tells you they can deliver hay, you do whatever it takes to make it convenient for them.
Well, while everyone was distracted by this and that in their lives, we have somehow arrived at the day before Christmas. Oh, you saw this coming? I should have been more aware. My online community was having an exchange of memories about the times the Santa myth unraveled for people.
I still remember the awe I felt when my dad told me, as I first appeared bleary-eyed one Christmas morning, that I just missed it. He said he had just heard the sound of reindeer hooves on our roof moments earlier. As time passed, I struggled to reconcile that powerful emotional “truth” I experienced with the logic that was debunking everything else about the Santa Claus ruse we were being sold.
My online friend shared the best description of the miracle of Santa. Sure, some of it is made up, but it’s based on this: it inspires people to experience the joys of giving gifts to others and making them happy, and it happens all over the world on the very same day.
That is something worth believing in for a lifetime.
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
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Disrupted Normalcy
What routine? My days have become a blur of disrupted normalcy. Of course, on the one hand, that is a fantastic blessing. On the other, it means doing my daily writing has become a challenge of stealing time from either sleep, or choosing to miss out on some of my favorite time lounging by the fire with the precious souls currently sharing our home. Add to that, the occasion of Christmas and all the scheduled events related to it, and I’m finding it hard to even remember what all my normal daily activities were.
I hope bills are getting paid. What day is it again?
I am even without my camera, which is usually in one of my pockets to help me capture glimpses of my days. Although I still have my phone for taking pictures, it doesn’t work as well for me, and I often forget that I even have it. It’s curious that I tend to remember when I have my camera, but never seem to think about the phone which is always with me. Happily, I have received notice that my camera has shipped from the repair facility, so it will soon be back in my hands.
I wished I had it with me the other day when I spotted a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers outside our front porch. I was able to get the attention of everyone in the house in time for them to see at least one of the two before they flew away into the woods. That was a real treat. I did what I could to capture them with my phone, and I’ve marked up the image to help you spot them.
Our weather seems to be stuck in a pattern of light snowfall, just enough to be a nuisance, but not enough to make significant impact, and temperatures that bounce from the relative warmth of near-freezing down to serious levels of cold below zero (F).
There has been a lot of transposing between Fahrenheit and Celsius around here lately. I have been telling everyone that if it gets cold enough it won’t matter. The two scales cross over at -40° so the reading is the same in both at that temperature.
It would certainly be abnormal for it to get that cold, but it would be fitting, since not normal has become my new normal around here lately. We are loving every crazy minute. We are richly blessed this Christmas.
We hope those of you reading here will find your own blessings revealed in the days ahead! Christmas eve is a magical time.
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Relative Something 