We need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

Candles in the window

Carols at the spinet,

Yes, we need a little Christmas now.

The holiday is upon us and our home is filled with red and green (who decided those were Christmas colors?). The lights are up, snowflakes in the front window and in the upstairs hall. Garlands of starlights in the living room. The little angel is one I call "Anna's angel" because she was given to me by a 68 year old woman with Down's Syndrome who died a few years ago. I knew Anna for a long time and adored her. She prayed for my soul (if there's a heaven and I get there someday, it's solely Anna's doing) and gave me religious statues and pins of the Blessed Mother. (in an aside, when I moved into my office with my office mate, he was scared that I was a very religious person and thought that he would have to watch his language. he is an atheist and was afraid I would try to convert him. I explained they were gifts from someone who cared about me and I wouldn't throw them away. besides, somehow I think it's probably bad karma to throw away a religious statue)

We have the Santa nesting doll that is one of Kate's favorites. She loves nesting dolls. And we have the stockings. Pk and I have the same ones but the girls' are all different. I made each one and they are treasured parts of Christmas. We have had a good laugh at the Christmas Book. It's the book I started in 1981 when Pk and I first got married. Each year I write about the holidays. It brings back memories of the small things I had forgotten. Such as the year we were driving a Gremlin and it had to be jump started each time we turned it off because the battery was old and the weather was frigid. And the year the tree fell over on Christmas day, and the time we all had the flu.....you get the idea. It's great fun to read and reread our exploits. I am looking forward to the holidays and am determined not to stress myself by trying to do too much. My philosophy is "get done the important things and let the rest slide". I kinda have to do things that way because stress makes my stomach hurt. Cookies are important so we'll make lots of cookies. Shopping is important but fortunately, I like to shop. Wrapping is important but I get tired of doing that so I enlist help wherever I can get it.

It's three weeks until Christmas and my knitting is almost finished. I didn't do much, just socks for everyone. Easy and completely doable.

I hope you are all having a good December. It's almost time for the solstice and then the days will stop getting shorter. I swear, it seems like I get up in the morning and blink and the sun is already going down!