The Christmas Story

When the Christmas season began, I wasn't exactly in the mood.  Being three months into my separation from my husband was making me feel less than holiday-like.  Christmas is normally my most favorite time of the year, but a lot of that is because of the traditions I have with my husband -- traditions I'll not have again.

I was very lucky during the first weekend of December to be able to sing with my old college choir in their annual Christmas Lessons and Carols.  That soothed my bruised heart some because music is the most important thing in my life, next to my faith.  And the music we sang was just so incredible that my spirits were uplifted just by singing it.

And the next weekeend I went and got a Christmas tree, which is my favorite holiday tradition. I got the perfect tree.  I wasn't sure what to do about ornaments since my husband and I had all out ornaments in storage at his Mom's house, but I decided to get all new ornaments and lights.  Then I had a major asthma attack and it was apparently from the tree!  I almost had to put my tree on the deck, but I got enough of the right kind of medicine so I didn't have to.

But I did get bronchitis.  I had a pretty bad case of it -- bad enough that I had to sleep in the recliner.  It was miserable.  And what made it worse was that I didn't get sympathy from people I expected to, including some friends... not even a "I hope you feel better." It was very strange.  But It just made me realize, again, that some people you can count on and some people you count.  But here's a a little tip to use with friends and coworkers - if they're obviously sick or tell you they are sick, it's always kind to say you hope they feel better.  It takes all of 30 seconds and can mean a lot.

So I'm in the third week of Advent and I'm mostly over the bronchitis.  Tomorrow is both the Fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve which means 3 services for me, plus the one on Christmas morning.  I always help out on Christmas Eve because it can be a long night for ministers.  And this year with the 3 services and the one Christmas morning, I just thought it would take some pressure off my friends.  So I will have a very busy day tomorrow and Monday, because I am also oncall.  It's all good.

I am excited about Christmas Eve. It's my most favorite day of the year. It's hard to explain why.  Mostly it's because of church.  My church does a Candlelight Service at 11pm, and there is nothing like seeing a church filled with candlelight while you sing "Silent Night".