CHRISTMAS DAY:
I did not hear Tom leave for the early service, I slept through that and was awake when he got home for coffee between services.
On the way home from church on Christmas Eve I told Tom that I would never go to another Christmas Eve service, or Christmas Day service where I had to sit alone again. I did not go to church this Christmas morning. I was still feeling rather raw about the whole Christmas church thing the night before. I was not wallowing in self-pity, merely acknowledging my sadness and doing what I needed to do to take care of myself. I do not feel guilty about being sad, I know others have deeper sadness, tragedy, heartache worse than mine, but my sadness is my own, and I had to deal with it as best I could. It does not help to keep it tightly wound up and shoved down. It only makes me more miserable to do so. Writing about it eases the ache some.
Tom took communion to a shut-in after the service. When he got home I urged him to put on his pajamas to just relax for the rest of the day. The poor man was so exhausted. 4 services in 18 hrs on about 4hrs sleep is a bit much!
We opened our gifts around 2:30. Tom was thrilled with the new winter coat, the black leather gloves, the two movies, fountain pen and ink set, the new journal, and the treats and small gifts in his stocking.
I was very happy with my gifts: really good, heavy, new baking pans (I don’t think I’ve had new ones in about 30 years, and what I’d bought were cheap and now blackened with use),
a paperback book I’d put on a list of suggestions,
Coffees: Christmas Blend from Starbucks, Mocha Java and Reindeer Blend from Caribou Coffee,
numerous items from Bath and Body Works in my two favorite scents, Sensuous Amber and Twilight Woods,
Rose Petal tea (I’d not seriously thought he’d find that but he did! I was thrilled!)
a cute pair of SmartWool socks,
and a creamy colored velour nightshirt, soft and pretty. It will be comfortable and cozy those days I want to lounge around in pajamas.
After gifts we had a light lunch of crackers, cheese, sausage, and a tray of raw veggies (red and green pepper slices, pea pods, baby carrots, celery, black olives, and fruits (sliced oranges, strawberries, kiwi)
I tried to call Anni yesterday morning but got her voice mail.
I missed Anni’s call when she called back, sometimes my stupid Blackberry doesn’t ring for some reason.
My brother and nephew called from NY. I’m glad they have this week to be together and make music! They are both gifted musicians!
Julie called and we cried together, she’d done okay with her first Christmas away from us until she started talking to us. She'd had a pretty good Christmas.
John called, he’d spent Christmas Eve with Kasey and her family, he said it had been fun. He had Ashlyn home for the evening now and so I heard her say “Merry Christmas Grammy.”
Noah called, he and Kay had been running all over SE Minnesota visiting her mom and dad’s family
Since I couldn’t roast the chicken we’d wanted to roast due to the pooped out oven I made vegetarian meatballs with gravy, mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh green beans for dinner.
I didn’t get the dessert salad with whipped cream, pomegranate, apple made the kids calls made dinner get too late, (NOT a complaint, we loved the calls! I’ll make the salad for Monday’s dinner of leftovers.)
I couldn’t believe that Tom stayed awake all day as exhausted as he was!
We spent a quiet afternoon just basking in the quiet, no TV, not even any music, just pure blissful quiet
We did turn on the TV to watch the Green Bay game. My 83 year old mother was attending with my baby brother and his family. They had box seats on the 50 yard line. My nephews did not find out until Christmas that they were going to the game! I’m so glad that Mom had this opportunity. I really wondered how she was doing being outdoors with her arthritis, and all the crowd noise. She’s such a sports nut. I hope she enjoyed the game. I imagine it will exhaust her for days! Thankfully Green Bay was unseasonable “warm” for the game, no snow or rain!
The only Christmas photo we took this weekend was of Bear enjoying his Christmas gift from Matt and Julie that they sent home from Oberg Christmas in Fargo. We put the bag under the tree and he sniffed at it and whined all week but was a good boy and left it alone. So funny!
I found myself feeling better and better as Christmas wound down. I knew that Christmas eve would suck, as Anni said to me in an e-mail, “we knew it was going to be a pomegranate Christmas”; and it was.
However, in spite of the sadness it was a good Christmas.
LIFE IS GOOD!
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