Good afternoon all...No coffee chat earlier this week as I was overwhelmed and tired and busy, just as all of you were no doubt. But for the most part the holiday is over and done. We will be leaving here in a bit to attend my mom's family dinner and gift exchange. I don't expect it will be a long drawn out thing. I kind of think everyone is about ready to settle down once more. Kay came in Wednesday evening and visited with her dad a bit before collapsing from traveler's weariness. And the next day dad was off to work while she and husband sat about visiting with me. They left to go visit his mom and family overnight, and I spent the afternoon working hard, very hard, as did my husband. We were sad and weary looking people Thursday evening. Friday morning I got up early and went to work right away. I had so much to get done! After straightening the house, I went off to do some banking, visit Granny, shop at the dollar store for the items needed to package gifts (NO clue where all the gift bags ended up!), and serve our amended easy meal on Christmas Day: turkey sandwiches, chips, cracker and cheese plate, cookies and fruit. For many reasons I ended up being happy I'd planned such a meal. I came back home a few hours later and began baking cookies, mixing sausage balls, and cheese ball for our meal on Christmas Day. and cleaned house, porch etc. Not working too hard, but not resting either, there was plenty to do. Dear Chance had to work quite late that evening and I waited until he got home to start our Shabat. Instead I lit two votives and let them burn from sundown until we were ready to begin our Shabat ritual. After we had said our Shabat prayer we found The Bishop's Wife playing on TCM and watched that. Now all my children promised they would be in Friday night or in the wee hours of Friday morning and I suppose that is why I had such a hard time sleeping Christmas Eve night. Gracious! It was the first year in 30 years that I hadn't played Santa to anyone and had to be up late...So maybe it was force of habit. Truth is I didn't sleep well at all. I was certain no one would be here when we awoke and I was proven half right. Chance had set up his schedule so he could go in a half hour late and have a Christmas morning at home with the kids...but only Kay and her husband were here. No Alan. I called his cell phone and got no answer, waited 15 minutes and tried again. Turned out he had to work an extra long shift and couldn't be here in time...Kay scorned the idea of having Christmas without Alan and went right back to bed. Chance and I looked at each other and laughed. Merry Christmas! We had breakfast together and a good laugh over something silly and he left for work at his usual time. No need to take that extra half hour if no one was having Christmas here. I set the food back in the oven to stay warm on very low heat and made my bed, took a shower and dressed and Alan came in from work. When I suggested we all wait until evening to open our gifts the kids blew my plans. It seemed the newlys had plans of their own that couldn't be changed, as they involved other people, Alan wanted to go home to go to sleep. I was so disappointed that we couldn't do it as a family! I felt very keenly that Chance was missing it all and that it was mighty unfair at that, but I also knew he'd be the first to urge me to let go of my expectations and let things work the way they would. I got lovely gifts from my children and friends (I'd already received lovely gifts from my husband earlier in the month). A warm pair of slippers to replace my thick socks, a beautiful Star of David brooch necklace, lovely scents in lotion and sprays and candles, a warm and beautiful muffler, a gorgeous sweater cape that will be wonderful to wear. The kids ate everything they could find that related to breakfast and then the cheese ball and crackers and a big bag of chips. The newlyweds got ready to leave for another visit to his mom, Alan came in from the cousin's where he'd gone to deliver a gift and came back looking so worn that he was urged to lie down. Suddenly the house was as silent as it had been boisterous all morning, and I found myself with one sleeping young man and a house that looked like a handful of two years olds had marched through. I straightened up a little bit and found myself eating a rather lonely lunch, lol. No, not the Christmas I'd planned at all. But no regrets, it had been fun and full of laughter. I spent the afternoon deleting files from the computer, emptying my favorites folders of dozens of websites that I'd not used or looked at once found, even deleting all but a bare handful of blogs. I realized about half way through the afternoon that I was making room for the New Year to come in. It began to rain and get colder and I cleaned out my homekeeping notebook and put in fresh pages for the coming year and wrote out a long list of resolutions then made out a page for goals for January which might seem ambitious at best, and overwhelming at the worst, but the new month and new year have inspired me to stretch myself a little harder. I think the most rewarding thing I did yesterday was when I came across a list of things I'd made out at the beginning of last year of things I wanted to buy, make, find, do. I believe I easily can say I marked off 80% of those items! Some things were so inexpensive in the accomplishment that I had to send up a prayer of thanksgiving like finding the new glass top for the breakfast room table for just $10 and the new curtains for that area for $16 and the chairs right here in my own home. And the guest room which has cost us nothing at all to furnish thus far, what a blessing that has been! I was so pleased to see that this past year had been productive in accomplishments and seeing that list made me feel very confident in my new list of resolutions. I fed the animals and talked to the California kids and then ate a lonely supper all by myself. The day had been fun and productive but at the back of my mind I could feel the disappointment that it was over and done waiting to pounce. Just a half hour before Chance came in last night, Alan awoke and had a cup of coffee and announced his intention of hanging around until Dad came home. Chance was glad to see him and then Kay called to say they were on their way home, plans having fallen through for the evening and would Daddy please wait for her to come home before he opened gifts? And so there we were, a family all over again, with our dear soul home sharing it all with us. And just as in old days, the kids shared all they'd gotten (even though he already knew) and laughter rang out once more. A Christmas Carol was found on one of the channels and Tiny Tim's "God Bless Us, every one!" was echoed by my own heart as the evening came to a close. So it wasn't the Christmas I had planned in my own mind, but it was a lovely, peaceful day in its own way and certainly nothing to be disappointed over after all. I may not post too much this week. I need to put away the Christmas things and do a Big Shop. I need to clean my house really well after a week of company. I want to sit down and really think hard and pray about my blog work for the year to come. And yes, after the past busy month, I'd really like a wee bit of time off to rest for the last part of this year before starting on the wonderful things I've planned for next year. So here's hoping your Christmas plans went well, that you were blessed with laughter and happiness and good cheer and I'll see you next year! | 
