This is the least “Christmassy” I have felt in the week before Christmas since that one year in Canada …. was it fifth grade? …. when the entire family spent Christmas lying on couches in that strange tri-level rental house with the orange shag carpet and the bullfighter mural painted on the mirrored wall above the fireplace, too sick to do more than moan and offer the occasional rueful smile in recognition of our pathetic state. Not that any of us are ailing this year, thanks be to God. Those of us that have been fighting colds are coming out of it just in time to have a healthy holiday.
No, it’s just that it’s hard to build up any of the usual anticipation that comes with traditions when the home is topsy turvy and we are still deboxifying and such like. I’ve squeezed a few moments in here and there for bringing out some decorative touches, mostly because the boxes labled “Christmas decorations” were found, and I thought we might as well use them. One large batch of cookies has been baked, but nothing like what I’d hoped to get at. Today we managed to get all the boxes I’d piled in the entry way outside the front door stowed in the garage, so we have a beautiful clear entrance to the home now. I mentioned in a previous post getting some curtains put up — that is really lending some warmth and joy to our living spaces. AND, with the help of my dear husband and his power tools and measuring expertise, I got some things up on the walls.
So, even though the shopping, baking, and decorating has taken a back seat this year, we’ve been blessed with a different kind of joy in being able to deck our new walls and halls and windows.
And tonight at choir we ran through our lineup for Christmas Eve midnight mass and Christmas day — and the songs of the season always put me in a right frame of mind. I *am* looking forward to this weekend!
