Merry Christmas

It was such a nice gesture, it made me cry. My family has a long-standing ritual for Christmas Eve where we burn candles and read the story of the birth of Jesus from the Bible. Back when we were young we also sang "Silent Night", but that has sort of fallen by the wayside. Never mind . . . it's still a good ritual.

I am working tonight in order to allow the younger employees to do their thing with their children. There's not much going on anyway, so it's not much of a sacrifice. I'm watching whatever bowl game is on TV at the moment. (Although a little earlier I was busier than a one-armed paper hanger. The girl who ran the switchboard today failed to switch the phones into night mode when she left, so no one could get through to us! I just thought we weren't busy. Then I had to catch up. Anyway . . .)

I had asked several of my family members to call or text me when they were about to burn their candles so that I could burn mine "with" them. Lil Sis obliged, and my candle is still burning. However, around 7:00 p.m. my son called and said they were about to burn candles, so I lit mine and was preparing to bid them all good night. Suddenly I realized he had me on speaker phone and was reading the Bible story. After that my grandchildren read "'Twas the Night Before Christmas", taking turns reading passages. It literally brought me to tears.

I don't have much Christmas spirit. I don't know why. I just don't. (Oh, I do know why but it's so illogical.) But tonight I am filled with happy memories and looking forward to the coming year.

It has to be better than this one.

Counting the Minutes

I noticed Lil Sis didn't blog tonight, so I assume she either couldn't find Internet service at the small college which is the base camp for our bicycling adventure this weekend--or she was too busy trying to get her air mattress inflated. I had to work tonight, and I had called her on my way in to see how she was doing. Then I felt guilty all night because when I called her she had been to buy batteries for her pump (she had loaned me her batteries at one point and I forgot to give them back), then she couldn't get the pump to work at all. I imagined her sleeping on the cold hard ground all night, and it made me very sad. Hopefully there was someone else with a pump who could help her out.

It wasn't bad enough that she had to load and then unload the tandem by herself, but now she is sleeping on the ground. Oh, well . . . we'll be in about the same riding shape since I have worked all night and will not sleep AT ALL before we ride today. I have done this before, and somehow the riding is more exhilarating than tiring, though I think tonight I will sleep very well!

I am strangely excited about this weekend's ride. It might be that I didn't do many "exciting" things this summer, or it might be that this ride signifies the end of the cycling season for us (normally), but why would I be excited about that? Change of seasons, maybe? There is a ride in Charleston which I have not been able to do (and won't be able to do this year due to work duties), but someday . . . It just happens to fall during the busiest time of year for me--just before Christmas when our logistics company is helping out one of those large carriers of packages. Have you ever wondered what they do at that time of year when their volume increases so drastically? Now you know: They get help. It is a crazy six-week period that seems to pass by in an instant. It is exhausting and frustrating, and then in a flash it is over. Kind of like Christmas itself.

Anyway, I'm taking a break from trying to keep up with all the drivers we have on the road right now, and I'm counting the minutes until my relief comes in and I can go. Normally I hang around to make sure the transition from 3rd shift to 1st shift is smooth, but I have already let them know they will see my backside going out the door as soon as they are in their seats this morning.

I really should get out more.