Give them a hand
Thursday December 24th 2020, 11:18 pm
Filed under: Family,Garden,Life

With the neighbor’s trees overhanging our house gone now, the holly has berries for the first time in so many years that I’d forgotten it could.

The Christmas tree isn’t up: a few years ago we bought the widest-but-one, fullest, heaviest tree at Balsam Hill for its lack of allergens but this was just not the year for struggling with it.

Which means I didn’t go sorting through the ornament boxes in the garage to find the one with the stockings in it. I asked him his feelings on the subject and he said, apologetically, Well actually bah humbug?

Oh good. Neither one of us had to feel guilty about it, then. (The lights but one have burned out in the garage so it would be one hand on a flashlight and one hand moving and opening boxes.)

We did have a great time of a Christmas Eve, though, wishing Maddy a happy sixth birthday, talking to Mom, and later Zooming with her and my aunt and a whole bunch of cousins–one of whom I hadn’t seen since her wedding in the early 80’s. Aunt Joyce has always thrown a Christmas Eve party for whoever in the family could come and now we all could from wherever we were.

Emily played The Holly and the Ivy on the piano and it was all I could do not to burst into unexpected tears: with her fingertips gone, there were missed notes–but there was so much feeling, so much living, so much rejoicing in those notes, so much forever the musician no matter what and it was a privilege to be able to witness.

Writing that just now led me to Alison Kraus and Yo-Yo Ma’s beautiful Wexford Carol rendition–I have that album. But my CD player did the 2020 thing and repairs have to wait till after the pandemic and yes of course computers and all that but I’ve simply gotten out of the habit.

It hit me that I have needed more music. It has been missing, and a bit of me with it.

As for the stockings: I had to have something, because I’d bought some great treats at Andy’s Orchard to put in them and whatever with the garage, they refused to be denied.

I was standing in the kitchen…

When in Romaine do as the Romaineians.

It’s awfully handy of oven mitts to come with a loop for hanging them. A few long paper/wire twisties that the vegetable crisper doesn’t need anymore, the long thick wire under the mantle we always hang the stockings from waiting for the new set-up, and there you go. No Santa that doesn’t mean your cookies are in the oven and you have to take them out yourself but thank you for offering to help.

I was leaning over the chair taking a picture of the mitts and smashed the back of the rocker into the underside of my nose because 2020 is into slapstick comedy like that.

Next year will be all about the grandkids. As it should be. I can’t wait.


7 Comments so far
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And the mitt ‘uns were hung by the rocker with care. And, oh my, ouch! Hope your nose isn’t too smashed.

Comment by DebbieR 12.24.20 @ 11:27 pm

Merry Christmas!

If you want Christmas music, KDFC 104.7 is all Christmas music until 12:01am December 26th.

Comment by Anne 12.25.20 @ 12:39 am

And I’m heartbroken that I didn’t double check the time, and came into the party only at the end, and missed my daughter playing…dang.

Comment by Marian 12.25.20 @ 12:46 am

Merry Christmas! Finding the small pleasures in this year.

Comment by ccr in MA 12.25.20 @ 11:06 am

How creative! And how very 2020 – making the most of what we have available! I hope your nose has survived… Merry Christmas to you and yours, and better days to come in 2021!

Comment by Pegi F 12.25.20 @ 12:18 pm

Merry (makeshift) Christmas!!!

Comment by Jayleen Hatmaker 12.25.20 @ 2:03 pm

Sounds about like my day. My daughter had her children and grandchildren over for tacos on Christmas Eve and got cute pictures of all the grandkids wearing the matching pajamas she got them. Christmas day, I took a ham over and she, her husband and I had dinner and watched movies. Very exciting.

Comment by Sharon Stanger 12.26.20 @ 10:03 am



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