I am much like the tide, ebbing and flowing. Today I made it to the kitchen with barely a moan. I believe I am experiencing a foreshadowing of my old age. When I wake up, I am stiff and my foot and leg hurt so getting up is a chore, but once I grit my teeth and bear it, I am far more mobile and capable. I made it to the kitchen today to clean up and change my clothes. I feel like a new woman. The guys are still working on the house on the last side, which happens to be a wall in this room, but I was so tired I slept through the pounding until 11:30; however, I don’t see a nap on the horizon. I guess I’ll have to let all those Hallmark Christmas movies lull me to sleep.

It’s cold. My friends brought me a bit of Christmas greenery, and I could feel the cold coming off it. Right now it is all the Christmas my house has. Usually by now the halls are decked and I’m tra la laing, but this is a different Christmas. Downstairs are boxes of gifts I never got to catalog so my family will celebrate Little Christmas when my boxes arrive, and my friends will be here for dinner and presents and music and cheer.

My town used to put strings of lights across Main Street. They were wrapped in colored tinsel which in daylight had seen far too many Christmas times but were still magical at night. They made the street glow in red and green and yellow. The fire station was outlined in colored lights, those big bulbs we all used to have. Santa with his bag of toys was climbing the fire tower. The churches all had creches outside waiting for the babe’s arrival. Some of the stores were decorated while others had scenes made from that white stuff you could buy to decorate windows. Our house had orange bulbs most years. The bushes in front were bright with colored lights.

Yesterday my neighbors lit up their bushes. They use all white lights. As for me, I’m still partial to the colored lights. They always bring me back to my childhood.