Wake Up! That was not my alarm saying that. It was the devotional for Christmas Day. I went to bed at 2 am after going to church, woke at 6, opened the devotional book as usual before my mind could race to anything else, and there was the title. Wake up! No! No! I need twice that amount of sleep, not that I ever get it.
When the alarm went off for real, I jumped out of bed and ran to the closet to see if I had wrapped that last gift. I hadn’t. It was a little gift for David. As a small child, he was the most obedient boy you could imagine. If he were offered candy, he’d say, “I’ll ask Mom if I can have that.” He is 21 years old now, and it took me by surprise that he was a gift snoop. It didn’t fit his personality. He announced the other day that he knew what was in every gift for him under the tree. I’m positive he did not disturb the wrappings. He didn’t need to. A soft, cuddly roll had to be a throw, and that tell-tale box was candy. I had warned him not to touch one thing, because he would likely have mashed it in the wrong place and torn the paper. There should be one surprise on Christmas morning! Last gift was hastily wrapped.
Already behind schedule, I rushed to the bathroom and indulged in a bit of involuntary crying. Shampoo in the eyes will do that. Warning to self: you are evidently in your second childhood. Must be time to buy baby shampoo.
I faced the mystery of the missing hose. Another bow to old age: I wear compression hose and wash them every morning. A pair was missing, not hanging in the shower where I’d put them to drip dry. They appeared when I pulled my towel from the heated towel rack. John had taken a shower, in so doing soaking the hose, so he hung them up in an alternate place. I’m used to a husband who showers regularly in the morning, not halfway through the day. I’ve had this husband for 52.5 years as of December 14, and I will never get used to unscheduled ablutions.
John and I had a quick sit-down breakfast of German Stollen, sent by our dear friend who treats us like royalty every year. It takes David several hours to become human. We let him sleep, then woke him up and pushed breakfast in his face in the car. He didn’t appear to be suffering.
We are now home from church, and the casseroles are in the oven. On to Christmas Day!
On this wonderful day, I’m praying for the peace and joy of Christmas to fill your heart.
I’d love to hear about your day if you have time to share.
Merry Christmas!
Mehrling Muse 
I’m getting a real vicarious pleasure from reading your Christmas diary (so far)!
As a very secular person of Jewish background, I don’t celebrate anything – so am happy to hear of others’ doings.
So what *did* I do, last night and today?
1) Tried to put out the flames in my (*very*) sore throat.
2) Tried to decongest my nose – to no avail.
3) Tried to breathe. Must’ve succeeded, although wasn’t easy. 😦
4) Tried to cover up red nose – then thought “Why bother!” since I’m not going out anywhere, for the third day in a row.
5) Texted and spoke with my lovely BF who lives around 700 miles away, unfortunately. He’s spending precious time with his teenage kids, from his ex-marriage. Glad for him.
6) Felt like the “Poor Little Match Girl” looking online at retail shop-at-home sites. Oh, what a masochist I am! (Money’s always in short supply.)
So to (gift-)wrap this up: Let’s all be thankful for our blessings, for what we have, and what we’re able to do. We are so very lucky.
❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m so sorry you are not feeling well. Colds are miserable. Here’s a big hug ((())) for you. Thanks for not sneezing on me while I hugged you. Hope you feel better very soon.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks for the hug! This could be worse, I tell myself. 😊
LikeLike
I hope it doesn’t get worse. Ugh! Maybe tomorrow will be better. Fingers crossed!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Anne! ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, and one other thing: you’re not allowed to mention “old age” ever again! My credo is: “old age” is always 20 years down the road from where we’re at right now. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Devotionals sometimes have a way of speaking aptly to one’s situation (whether it is God speaking, or mere coincidence, I find that reassuring regardless)..
My day was quiet – church for a couple of hours, then back home to cook, eat and then catch up with family scattered around the world..
LikeLike
That sounds like a very pleasant day. Hope you had wonderful conversations with your scattered family.
LikeLike
On Christmas day, my daughter and I woke up at 4 am to look at the gifts she got – though she is 17, she still likes to get gifts from Santa- so we leave gifts from Santa under the tree for her. I listened for her to ooh and aah over her gifts and see her wonder and the thanks that sparkled in her eyes. Then we went back to studying Physics as she has a Physics exam on Tuesday. At 10:30 am, we drove to church, hoping the crowds would have dwindled by then- Sunday being a working day here. And there were a few people who actually made it to the 11 am service. We sang a few carols except Silent Night as it was not night. The organist or pianist from the loft of the church was playing loud and low in spurts- so all people in the congregation were turning back and up to look at what was happening in the loft. But I remembered you during the song sessions we had and remembered that each person should be allowed to worship God in whichever way pleases him/her. And we are no one to judge that.
We rarely get to go to church because of very few parking spaces so I used the time in church to clear my yearly dues- not monthly dues, note.
Then we went home to a lunch of fried vegetable rice and chicken roast. My daughter had made gingerbread cookies made of millet flour and we ate those as dessert. Post lunch we slept as we had eaten too much.
We skipped dinner accordingly to compensate for our indulgence.
I am grateful that at my daughter’s insistence we decided to go to church after more than a year ( together as a family). I am more grateful than anyone can imagine about this.
I watched a lot of TV and I realise now that my TV watching has to stop- big time.
In the night, we lost our cat. I don’t know how- none of us know either but it was around 9 pm when we realized he wasn’t around and we went searching for him. We found him looking at us from the outside garden, in the dark but he didnt want to come back in. Though we got my daughter and husband to chase him around, he refused to come in. So we let him be and went back inside the house to a fitful sleep.
That was how our Christmas day was spent.
Quite eventful.
Susie
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for writing about your Christmas celebration. What a day! I enjoyed reading all that you did. We lost cats from time to time but they always showed up sooner or later.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds like you had a blessed Christmas day. My kids made it here for the day, with the exception of one daughter in law who woke up with stomach flu :(. We had a thunderstorm (which is incredibly weird for Iowa in December) complete with lightening. Ate too much. Opened gifts. Had my home turned into a wrapping paper tornado zone and loved every minute of it! It was a blessed day.
LikeLike
Our celebrations used to be like that when we lived among family members. Things are different now, but we enjoyed this season. Your thunderstorm must have seemed strange.
LikeLike
Hi Anne. Okay, so in answer to your question, here’s my Christmas this year. Christmas Eve, Steve and I went to the Christmas Eve service. I always love that. I was so energized by it that I couldn’t fall asleep until well past 1:30am. Hence, I could not pull myself out of bed Christmas Day to go to the morning service. I’m such a sinner! 🙂 Then Steve and I had a leisurely breakfast (nothing fancy). We spent time in God’s Word. Then we got on the phone and called our kids and parents to wish them all a Merry Christmas. Our daughter doesn’t actually celebrate Christmas anymore, but our son does. We call them both anyways. All of those phone calls actually took about 3 – 4 hours. Then we had some lunch, got all gussied up and walked across the street to our neighbors house who hosted a potluck Christmas dinner for about 8 of us. We brought the dessert which was an apple and rhubarb pie, plus a Black Forest Cake/Roll. We were home again by 9 and went to bed with smiles on our faces and contented hearts. I suppose it sounds boring, but it was really a lovely day. Hugs and blessings, Anne. xo
LikeLike
It sounds like a marvelous celebration, Debbie. You spent time with God, your church family, relatives, and neighbors. Seems quite complete to me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have and still am enjoying it, Anne. To me, Christmas is all about these things and I make it last as long as I can. 🙂 Hugs to you.
LikeLike
I like that idea, that you can make Christmas last. Ours is stretching into the middle of January, because we have our grandsons with us. Christmas hugs to you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m happy for you, Anne. Enjoy them to the fullest. Grandkids are so delightful. Hugs to you too. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sunday is a normal work day? Is there a day when most businesses are closed? You have dues for church? Who sets the amount? I love knowing about things that are different in our cultures.
LikeLike
Himself was able to come home for Christmas! We spent the day cleaning out the basement and organizing our belongings (we’d yet to do that since moving in last January. It’s mostly his stuff and I don’t dare organize it). The day after Christmas we went to Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO. It was absolutely wonderful!! A very magical time indeed. He let me buy anything and everything I wanted! I got a glass snowman that we watched the glass blowers make right before our eyes! The weather was a beautiful 60 or so and the wind light! You know the rest of my Christmas from reading the blog!!
LikeLike
I’m so glad you had Christmas together. We saw a few trucks on the road on Christmas Eve, but I was shocked at the number we saw on New Year’s Eve. How I wished all those people could have been at home if they’d wanted to! We drive about half an hour on I-40 going to and from church in Asheville.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sadly enough the wheels must keep rolling. Himself had to fight to be home for Christmas…the nation cannot function with missing product on the grocery store shelf.
LikeLike
Yes, I know truckers have to keep rolling. I wish I had prayed for each driver we passed yesterday and today. I’ll do a retro-prayer for them. I worked many holidays, though I wasn’t away from home, and the work did not take all day. Now I’m FREE!
LikeLiked by 1 person