Dec. 19, 2023

 It's one of those contemplative, calm, quiet mornings. 

As you can see from the Santa "calendar", it is December the 19th and if you look beyond, out the kitchen window above the sink, we got a little snow yesterday. 

There is the official measurement of snow. Not much, and will likely be gone in a day or so, according to the forecast, but it helps to keep it feeling "Christmasy".

I'm having my "Melozio" coffee (Nespresso) this morning. Usually I just have instant coffee, but I felt like a little something special, so this is using the coffee maker the kids got us a couple of years ago, with cream. It's sitting beside the old computer screen in the corner of the kitchen.

Murphy is having a drink of water after breakfast.

Scooter is grooming, waiting for Murph to get out of the way. Life is tough when you are fluffy. 

I still have to get dressed out of my pajamas and robe and go out and turn on the light in the chicken coop and add food to their feeder. The sander just came down our road. We are on a dead end road in our little village and every year the snow removal equipment rips the grass apart on the edges of the road and digs great caverns into the road itself. We are on a tiny bit of a rise and I guess it's just too tough to raise the blade a bit. But what do I know, I've never driven a salter, sander, or plough. 

I'm in that odd funk whereby you prepare, prepare, prepare and anticipate and then it's over and you don't know what to do, as we had our gathering two days ago (our immediate family) because daughter and fiance leave this Friday to the Great White North. It was a fantastic day, however, with good food, laughter, two Christmas movies, and a game. So now I wait until our little gathering on Christmas Eve day where we will have my mother-in-law with husband and son and I for a smaller dinner, I'm thinking ham, and we will give her some presents and take her back to her nursing home. Dementia is getting rougher on her. I'm not sure how this will go... Then on Christmas Day, we drive a couple of hours to a city where we are gathering at my brother and sister-in-law's home for my side of the family's get together. 

This is where I get a bit maudlin - last year was SO traumatic with my cancer diagnosis and various treatments and my sister being in ICU and us driving like a bat out of hell to get to her bedside, being told that "this was it". In fact, it was a year ago on the 16th that it happened for her. A very different Christmas. She did recover with all the bumps and delays from being in an induced coma and being hooked up to so many machines. It took way too many weeks to finally discover that she was deathly allergic to ibuprofen and that's why her body went into shock / sepsis. I, of course, recovered and got the all clear from the doctor and go on with my forever changed life, taking drugs which will assist me in not getting cancer again and being reminded to live my life fully whenever I turn down an opportunity, or think I shouldn't splurge on the "good stuff", or feel guilty for spending an afternoon reading instead of doing something productive. 

So, this year we have lots to be thankful for, lots of looking back and being glad that's over with. Ironically, both sister and brother have had leg surgery this month (or very end of November for sister, I believe), so they will be the hobbling siblings at Christmas. I must be very careful in my clumsiness and not bump into either one of them! But they will recover in the weeks to come and will have, eventually, less pain and new mobility and will also have a "new lease on life". I have two older brothers and my older sister and I am glad that we can all get together and that it will be something to look forward to. We've not always seen eye to eye and gotten along perfectly over the years, but time mellows things and relationships change and sometimes hardships bring people closer together (and sometimes not). There will be some cousins, but not all, as some live quite far away now. Everyone has two children in my family, my two brothers, my sister and myself. 

I am rambling on, aren't I? It's time to wrap this up and start reading your blogs and seeing what's happening in your lives...