Christmas Eve

It's amazing how little it feels like Christmas Eve. Do you remember back to some undefined time when the days before Christmas just seemed a little bit like magic? How you could feel and smell and taste Christmas for weeks before it arrived? I remember being a kid and lying on the couch in the living room with all the lights off, and the tree lights lit (those giant multi-colored bulbs), and our Christmas records playing on the record player, and dozing off to sleep with a feeling of quiet peace. A few nights ago, Kaylee brought her blankets and pillow out to the front living room, and fell asleep on the floor watching the tree lights, and it made me smile.

Steve and Ernie went out and about on the town today, doing some last minute shopping, going out to the airport a bit, just "guy stuff" as they put it. Mom, Kaylee and I hung out at the house. They've spent the day playing, something Kaylee quite enjoys as you can imagine. An adult's undivided attention for entire days at a time? Child Bliss.

Today I was getting lunch for Kaylee, and I grabbed a large glass jar of pickles, and promptly dropped it. It landed at an angle on the bottom edge of the jar directly on my second toe on my right foot. The full weight of the drop/jar hit in one little spot no bigger than a half inch in the middle of the bone of that one toe, and I made a noise I've only heard come out of my mouth one other time-when I poured boiling water down my chest/stomach. Something between a yell and a scream and a nonsense word. It hurt enough I actually got nauseated for a minute, and when you touched my toe, you could feel the dent in it, no kidding. I have a witness. I couldn't bend it, and I assumed I broke it. Since they can't do anything but tape the little toes if they break, I decided to save a few hundred bucks and just tape it myself, sit an ice pack on it for awhile, and take some Tylenol. I'm still not sure if it's broken or not, but I'm not going to untape that thing and check right now, considering it doesn't feel so great to tape and untape it. Right now it's down to a low throb when I limp. Even if it's not broken, it certainly did some deep bruising. Watch out for those pickle jars...I think they're dangerous. ;)

We had ordered a Wii for Christmas, and Steve paid extra for it to be delivered by today. But they didn't leave it, and now we won't have it until Wednesday, and they have no phone number or way to contact them about it. So, when they do deliver it, they will be leaving without a package but with an extra piece of Steve's mind. Or perhaps with a chunk of their backside missing.

After dinner tonight, I managed to plug up our sink quite thoroughly. Well, not quite the sink. It made it down the sink, past the garbage disposal, past the trap, and is blocked somewhere behind that. We've plungered it (that may not be a word, but you know exactly what I mean!), poured caustic chemicals down it, plungered it some more, removed pipes that we can reach, and....nothing. So as of right now, no dish washer and no kitchen sink, plugged pipes, and a worry that a visit from a plumber would be necessary-but impossible to obtain-on Christmas Day. *sigh*

There are several people I know who are having a harder time this Christmas. The ladies from the Grief group, Andrea whose mother just passed away, several families whose SMA children are sick and/or in the hospital over the holidays struggling with pneumonia and RSV, and Michaele whose grandmother just passed away, among others. Life doesn't stop for the holidays, but it's always tough to deal with these things at all, let alone during what is supposed to be a happy-and is always a frantic-time.

Well, I didn't send out Christmas cards this year, but I hope each of you who knows me well enough to know this blog exists knows how much I enjoy and appreciate your friendship, company, and love. I am indeed blessed!