it's coming down

Today, the Christmas Crap starts to go away.  I've given considerable thought to how I'm going to do it.  Last year I took the approach of the slow, easy way.  I just grabbed an item or two every time I thought about about it and hauled them to the garage and shoved them in a box.  While it was easy, my stuff got put away in a pretty disorganized way and I had a hard time finding some of it this year.

I've decided that this year, I'm going to focus on one area at a time.  Today, I will return my mantle/hearth and the big cocktail table in my living room to normality.  Once I have closure on those areas, I'll move along to something else.  This year, it's going to be all about the closure.

Christmas pix

Hallie and Bubsy

Christmas

It came, and it was good, and I felt it.  I directed a surprisingly large--30ish kids in the combined choir--group at our 4:00 family service, and they sang like angels and made me cry.  That started it, and I was wrapped up in it from then on.  I dragged Hallie and Ian there to play percussion and hand chimes for my kids' anthems, and Dave was one of the Wise Men in the pageant part of the service.  It was all sweet and touching, and then we rushed home.  Hallie and I changed into dressy clothes (no choir robes on xmas eve) and rushed back in time for the 6:00 call time for the next service, a traditional lessons and carols service with a candlelit Silent Night at the end.  Beautiful music, hugs from old friends, surprise visits from all-grown-up former choir members.   

As we do every Christmas Eve, from there a big crowd of us went to our friends', the Kelleys, house for roast beef sandwiches, a huge pot of homemade potato soup (must be my week for it), all kinds of holiday baked goods, and copious amounts of pomegranate martinis, compliments of Dave.  Then we all returned slightly drunkenly BACK to church, grateful that we only had to go a block, for the 11:00 communion service in which most of us had to sing More candles, more beautiful songs and carols, more hugs and old friends.  (Yes, it's the churchiest imaginable Christmas Eve, for such is the life of a church musician.)  Finally, after midnight, back home to sneak one by one to the fireplace to fill stockings.  

We all slept till about 9, then dumped out our stockings (no diamond rings, lots of stupid stuff and candy) and then cooked up a huge brunch just in time for some friends to arrive to share it with us--along with plenty of mimosas.

After that, it was presents, then our annual Christmas Day trip to the movies.  We saw Benjamin Button, and I found it magical and beautiful and was completely transported by it.  It's LONG though--so make that prophylactic trip to the ladies room before it starts.  When we got home, we were too full of popcorn and Junior Mints to have any interest in the big dinner I was planning to cook, so we heated up some delicious Antonio's tamales, changed into jammies, and commenced to watching, reading or playing our various Christmas "toys."

I think I learned the same lesson the Grinch did.  You can fight it, but it comes anyway.

God bless us every one.

An email I got from Bert:

It had the subject line, "Soup."

"I was going to comment.  I noticed that everyone was giving the word they'd gotten for WV.  So I hit comment and then had to stop...is someone trying to tell me something?"

Below that message was the image of Bert's word verification word.  It was, no kidding,

schmk

Soup

I made a big pot of cream of potato.  And Ian's home for a few days.  My mood is lifting!

It's cold and rainy here, but I know it doesn't even compare to the rest of the country.  How's the weather where you are?

An observation

A diamond ring is not a "stocking stuffer."  Neither is an iPod.  

A stocking stuffer is, say, Silly Putty.  Or a yo-yo.  Or maybe a Snickers bar.  Or, in my childhood, apples and oranges and ribbon candy and maybe a candy cane.

But not a diamond ring.

Today

I shipped all my out of town Christmas presents.  I'm hoping this will improve my attitude, which is bad.  Very bad.  I'm just not feeling Christmas.