Christmas Eve at 11:40 p.m. CST

We have a crooked tree this year.
Through no fault of its own.
I sort of love it.
It feels right, just as it should.
Tilting to the right, with no risk of tipping over, it takes the pressure for perfection out of the equation.
Woosh
That’s me, letting out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding.
Ah.
Much better.
Yes, I rather like our crooked tree.
A Fraser Fir, a real one.
With an angel at the very top.
Countin’ down to Christmas morning…
Hoping the children sleep in…
at least until six something.
When they awake they’ll come down the stairs to look for presents with their name on them.
Even crooked trees are present magnets.
They charm you, like lopsided grins.
I do believe The Christmas Spirit found me, somewhere along the way this December.
I am thankful for that too.

Sang Silent Night and Away In The Manger at Christmas Eve service tonight.
Had a nice meal and opened some early presents at my in laws house afterwards.
Then home for my sweet sons to get cleaned up and pjs on and TRY to settle down for some sleep on The Hardest Night To Sleep All Year.
Before bed I read “The Night Before Christmas” aloud.
Even though at 11 and 8 they are both strong readers and way past bedtime stores, much to my chagrin.
Once I finished, my oldest son took a turn reading it to us.
My younger son was devouring his new Calvin and Hobbes book during the second reading.
Best of all, we were all four together, and the cat too, as we enjoyed the cadence and fancy in the poetic words of Clement C. Moore.
Just a little bit of Santa tonight.
In the morning it’ll be scripture, from Luke 2.
Breakfast casserole is cookin’.
Presents are wrapped, hidden and waiting…for just a little longer.
Merry Christmas to all.
And to all, a goodnight.

Last night my family was four of the four hundred who saw a sold out showing of, “It’s A Wonderful Life” at the restored, art deco, from 1937, Normal theater, in Normal, Illinois. I never get tired of watching this movie. I love the message about what truly defines riches in this life. I come home singing “Buffalo Gals” to myself and grinning a goofy grin. Best if all was sitting with my family, four across, from the third row, watching it together. Every so often one of my sons, sitting on either side of me, would lean their head on my shoulder. (And my husband would poke me from one seat away, when I started to nod off, because it had been A Very Full Day and I was fighting a headache and closing my eyes relieved the ache of it some…and it’s not like I hadn’t ever seen the movie before.) Still grinning a goofy grin at the memories we made last night. Merry Christmas Eve Day, to you, and may it be a wonderful life now, and always. ~ Janean