Last night the wind started. I was with Jack in the cat room when a wind shook the house. All three animals looked up. I looked at the walls. That was the strongest wind of all. It was scary.

My tree is still unlit, but that is only because I stayed away; now, however, I am ready again to brave the unlit lights except I have a plan. If they don’t get lit, I’ll just replace the strands. I have more.

We used to hang our stockings on the tiny bannister on the way upstairs. Mine was on the top. I was the oldest. I remember that stocking and my name in glitter. Over time it started to unravel. That’s when I lost touch with my stocking. I figure it must have been tossed when my parents moved, and I was in Ghana. My sister, the youngest of the four of us, still has hers. I think because she and her stocking moved together. What a wonderful thing to have!

I gave each of my sisters’ kids, a niece and two nephews, their Christmas stockings. I even needle-pointed my niece’s, and my mother backed the stocking. I think it has immeasurable value, my mother’s handiwork. I also gave my niece and nephews’ kids their stockings. My sister told me it was a tradition. My last grandnephew was born a year ago. He got a different sort of stocking, one knitted by a woman in England. I found her on Etsy and have used her talents three times for three different stockings. She never disappointed.

I used to think that traditions came from way back. Some do but others are new. I used to fill three piñatas, one each for my niece and her two brothers, my nephews, to be whacked on Christmas Eve. It was a Christmas highlight. Now, my niece and my nephew filled piñatas for each others’ kids. It is an aunt and nephew thing.

I send gingerbread houses to be constructed and decorated to my niece and nephews. I started sending them to my sister’s kids when my oldest nephew was three. The houses are sent to their kids now. One of my favorites pictures of one year’s completed construction was the Star Wars encampment my grand-nephew built, the one who is now 16. Walls were still walls, but his walls circled a rebellion camp. He used his Star War figures to protect his people behind the walls of his gingerbread house. It was a grand design.

I am quite behind my time. The morning has been busy. I had PT, went to the dump, shopped at Ring’s and went to have blood drawn. I’m tired of the car, and ‘m tired of clothes.

Last night I put my tree in the stand and put on the lights. It was lovely. I then moved the tree to its Christmas spot. That was a mistake. It fell over, and the lights wouldn’t light. I tried everything. I know the expletives that exploded from my lips zapped me directly to the naughty list. I didn’t care. About then I decided to take a break and work on the tree today. That will be my next task, not an impossible one I hope.

Earlier today Miss Nala kept me busy. She stole the cloth basket from the upstairs bathroom. It was made in Ghana with Ghanaian cloth. She sneaked it into the backyard and was doing zoomies with it in her mouth. I watched. A couple of times, she ran close to me and dropped it, but if I made even the slightest move she was off again. Finally she dropped it, and I grabbed it. Before I left for PT a bit later, I moved enticing decorations into the bathroom and shut the door. When I got home with my groceries, I was putting them away when she tried to steal my Snickers bar. I caught her.

I’ve decided I am the living embodiment of the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. “Tis but a scratch.” I had my uke practice then a concert yesterday. My knife wounds opened so I now carry band-aids everywhere I go.

When I was a kid, I could barely wait for Christmas. Tomorrow was the longest kid day in the year. Nothing could make it go any faster. We took turns opening the Christmas cards which came in the two deliveries. We watched A Christmas Carol. By then it was early afternoon. I don’t even remember if we ate any meals. I’m thinking sugar cookies and candy canes. I liked the way candy canes stuck in my teeth. I used to click my teeth together.

We are expecting a warm day tomorrow, a high of 55°, but we are also expecting thunder showers and a low of 19°. It sounds like a day to stay home. I have a few ornaments to make with cinnamon sticks and oranges and a gingerbread house to put together. I’m thinking it sounds like a fun day.