Christmas, Irony, Etc.

Soon, I will be getting ready for our Christmas Eve service, waiting for the candle-lit to work its magic and inspire a peaceful, but festive, mood.

Christmas Eve, and Christmas Eve Eve, have really outdone themselves this year! Last night we were up late preparing and waiting for my parents' arrival. Preparations are never complete without a good vacuuming (especially with a house full of pets), and the vacuum chose yesterday (the 23rd) to stop working. As we were attempting to drift off to sleep sometime just after midnight (Geoff in particular hoping for some solid sleep, as he worked this morning), my mom called, and we were back in action. Seems they hit a deer (sadly ironic just as we were starting to anticipate the sound of happy hoofs on the rooftop tonight), in the country not far from us. Thankfully people and travelling pets were fine, but the van does not seem so fine. After picking them up & unloading their van into ours at the mechanic's, we eventually headed to bed sometime after 3:00am.

Today, the 24th, involved the usual last-minute shopping with my mom (hers, of course), a trip for Geoff to Sears to see about vacuum repair (and now a pricey part he hopes to avoid opening if he can fix ours at all), grocery shopping...and our new tradition.

(Side note: I have been thinking the past few days about how we need some Christmas Eve traditions, so it serves me right that one has come to us).

For the second year in a row, Geoff is back at work, having been called in on his way home due to a mechanical failure in his building. He missed the Christmas Eve service entirely last year due to a pager call (not a terribly common thing), and we are hoping to hear from him before we head to church this year. Not the kind of tradition I had in mind. And of course, that also means the vacuum is not yet fixed and the final odd jobs (including removal of a book-case which is in the kitchen waiting to be stored in the garage) are not yet done. Looks like our other Christmas Eve tradition will involve late evenings doing the things we didn't get done during the day while Geoff was back at work.

Ah well. Such are the holidays, it seems. And as daylight is slipping away, my lights are casting a warm glow about the kitchen (although the bookshelf really looks no better in the middle of the floor, even with pretty lights around). It is Christmas, folks! Enjoy!