Christmas 2011


The house is quiet except for the whirring of the dishwasher. Sweeties is trying to figure out a new toy, the dog settled in surrounded by several new bones. One cat is asleep on Grandmother's quilt and the last time I saw the other one he was behind the tree planning a kamikaze attack.

Christmas Eve service at church last night was beautiful. Sitting in the church surrounded by the holy-day sights and sounds made me heavy with missing mom and dad. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning Dad called me. I awoke with a start, opened my eyes and listened for more. That was all, just his voice calling my name.

Sweetie was the first one awake this morning, anxious to see what Santa had brought. It was fun to watch his very neat and organized way of selecting presents from under the tree, then carefully opening each one and depositing used wrappings and bows in a tidy pile. I'm more of a rip it open and see how high you can stack the paper!

After awhile, the White Beast, Maizey, joined in the fun. Maizey is Johnson's dog who has not quite perfected her indoor manners. She likes to chase the cats, jump on Suzi, run through the house at Mach speed and ignore every command she's learned from the house-calling trainer. This morning, Boy Cat held his ground and may have gotten in a swipe or two. Suzi claimed possession of Maizey's bone and in a what could be considered a Christmas miracle, Maizey not only let her have it, but rolled over in a temporary display of submission.

The rest of the day was spent quietly preparing dinner, reading and snoozing. We had a very nice dinner, even though the sweet potato casserole changed from a pretty orange to icky brown. A veritable smorgasbord of desserts topped things off. Now I feel like an exhausted but happy Christmas elf who wants to put on her flannel jammies, crawl into bed and dig into her stack of new books.

Tonight I feel grateful for Christmas - the baby in the manger, the angels and shepherds, little drummer boys, decorated trees, twinkle lights, cards, and wrappings and bows, sprinkle covered sugar cookies, silly dogs, Christmas elves, and family near and far. My heart is full. My little girl content.

I hope your day was filled with the miracle of love in all its different forms.
Merry Christmas everyone,
Merry ME

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