Apres Noel

Tuesday and we're back to normal. But isn’t this the day for the “After Christmas” sales? I wasn’t paying attention to the ads, but I think that’s how it works. You buy a whole lot of stuff before Christmas and then find it for sale for less on the day after and so you buy some more. A lot more. And you do this while fighting with hordes of crazed shoppers. It’s all part of doing your patriotic duty and boosting the economic fortunes of a few.

As a counterpoint to that thinking, I found this in my in-basket this morning…

The Work of Christmas
Howard Thurman

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.

Source: The Mood of Christmas

Darn cat! What a pest she is. Wants in and then wants out. On my lap and then off my lap. But she did pretty well with the Christmas day crowds, sticking to her personal spot under the small table in the family room despite all of the commotion going on around her. Though I’m sure she was happiest when we moved the action to the living room. OK, she’s out again and no doubt will soon make an appearance at the window here in the study to announce her desire to rejoin me. And being well trained…I will comply.

Did we get everything we wanted for Christmas? Oh, yes! We had most of our family here and although we missed Bill and the twins, we knew they were safe and having a good time, as all 4 year olds do on that day. For the children, Meghan, Karlee and Kyle, it’s always a wonderful day.

We even did a “structured” present opening, with all taking turns. Very pleasant! I wish I could say that was my idea, but it wasn’t. I think we were teasing Kyle, without mercy, about who would be allowed to open their presents first, and Kyle, being the youngest and very much a little boy, was all in favor of himself being allowed to pillage the packages. One thing led to another and we were soon taking turns quite naturally. Who knew?

Food. Lots of it. The meat, 2 tri-tips, was quite good. They might have been taken off of the fire a little sooner and that would have made them better, but I am a fan of very rare meat and not all are. The scalloped potatoes were popular and I will have to post a recipe on my food blog. The carrots/beets dish was definitely al dente. I made a bad call on the roasting time so they had a crunch to them.

And appetizers/desserts; plenty of them! The bacon wrapped dates that Alicia made were way too good! Candy and cookies were everywhere, plus pies. But I didn’t let common sense slow me down at all. I tried each and every one.

I had made grand plans to take photos of everything as the day progressed, but the camera was soon forgotten in the press of family and fun. I saw Alicia taking photos so I will have to hit her up for some copies.