I had one of the best Christmas Eves I can remember, and I’m having a very peaceful and relaxing Christmas Day–at home, alone, decompressing from the holiday run-up. I have more holiday starting tomorrow!
I spoke too soon when I said I finished my shopping on Tuesday. My dad’s friend, whom I’ll call “Z.” and who is staying with dad temporarily, had his four kids at the house on Christmas Eve and they did some of their gift exchanging then. I knew that was all planned, but I hadn’t realized that both dad and my sister were giving Z. a gift. He’s a terrific guy, so I decided I better get him a gift, as well–and then I decided to get something small for the kids (who are teens). They’re great, too, and I really like Z.’s 13-year-old son, who is into computers and video authoring and is a total kindred spirit.
Meanwhile, my big gift this year is that dad is helping me buy a new computer system. I’m getting a new desktop system from Dell, and I’ve put hours into researching it, looking at all the options, deciding what I had to have and what I could compromise on, and then running up customized configurations on Dell’s website, over and over and over, to see just how much I could get and stay within dad’s and my budget limits. I finally nailed down the unbeatable configuration on Wednesday.
I went out shopping for Z.’s kids locally on Wednesday, and I visited a store here in town called the Covered Bridge Country Store which I hadn’t yet checked out. I was totally tripping out in this store because it’s exactly like the fictional store in Mortal Touch–a mix of antiques, gift shop items and hand-crafted things from local crafters. I must say, however, that the CBCS is much classier than Borrowed and Blue! Regan would die of envy if she saw this place. *wry grin* It’s really a cool store. I chatted with the owner, and I’m going to take some books in after the holidays (her request) because she carries a few books by local authors and/or another small press here in Pepperell. (Yes, little Pepperell is just crawling with literacy–two small publishers and at least three authors, and that’s only the ones I know so far!).
I got some really juicy gossip, too–remember the little second-hand store that was selling copies of Mortal Touch for me, and went out of business owing me for two books? Well, it turns out that I’m pretty lucky that’s all I’m owed. The owner of the CBCS says that store folded and disappeared owing her hundreds of dollars, and she’s taking the proprietor to court!
Anyway, I found some locally hand-made soap for Z.’s daughters, and I decided to “hand down” an old version of Paint Shop Pro of my own to the 13-year-old, so the kids were all set. But I couldn’t come up with anything for Z. I had this idea that maybe he’d like one of those insulated coffee mugs for drinking coffee in your car, because he’s on the road a lot. That idea kept coming back to me, but I just wasn’t sure if he needed one or not.
Wednesday night, I tried to put through the order for the Dell computer, and Dell’s website was being flaky and not letting me do it. This was very annoying, and I’ve never had this kind of problem with Dell’s website before. I didn’t know if it was high traffic, a problem with my connection, or the fact that I was trying to charge two credit cards with totally different cardholder information, but I finally gave up. Thursday morning, I tried and failed again and then called Dell’s sales number and put the order through with a live person. I’m not in a big hurry, so I took the free shipping option and the system should be here in three weeks or so.
Right after I did that, dad called to see when I’d be up at the lake to join him and Z.’s family for dinner and presents. I said that I just wanted to get my workout and sunset attunement done and I expected to be there by 5:00 p.m. Then I asked dad what he thought Z. might like that I could get around here. Well, dad said, he knew one thing that no one else had gotten Z.: he really wanted a Dunkin Donuts coffee mug for his coffee when he was commuting. Could I get that?
When am I going to learn to trust my psychic blips?!? You know how often this happens to me? There’s a DD right down the street, so I thanked dad copiously. I decided to go straight out and get the mug right away. This was fortunate, because not only was it an absolute ZOO out there–crazy traffic, jammed parking lots–but the Pepperell DD was sold out of mugs. So was the Townsend Harbor DD. When the shiny new DD in Townsend Center had them, I could have dived across the counter and kissed the sales assistant, who would no doubt have been very startled. 🙂 I was so happy to have gotten the very last gift I needed, I drove home in sheer euphoria. I did my workout, wrapped everything, packed all my stuff and went up to the lake.
Z. had cooked a delicious dinner: pork medallions in sauce, broccoli, bread, and rice, and a cheesecake for dessert. I took along homemade iced sugar cookies and homemade peppermint bark that I’d made the day before. I ended up eating most of the broccoli, which was very good with the sauce from the pork. I’m not really a cheesecake eater, but Z.’s daughter cut the cheesecake and served everybody and since it was right in front of me, well, you know, I had to eat it, just to be polite! 🙂
After dinner, Z.’s family were all going to the Christmas Eve candle-lighting service at the Winchendon UU church–which my dad had resigned from earlier this year, with very hard feelings. Ashby was doing a service at the same time, and I felt bad about missing it. After all, I’m the Chair of the Parish Committee. I wouldn’t have gone if Z.’s family was staying home doing stuff, but since they were going out, I decided to go to Ashby’s service. I coaxed my dad hard to come along but he declined.
I was really glad I went. It was great to see people, and rather relaxing to attend a service for which I had no responsibility whatsoever. I knew all the kids in the congregation who had roles in the service, playing instruments or putting on the pageant. I always like the end of the Christmas Eve service where everyone forms a circle and passes the candle flame around. But as enjoyable as the service was, the bonus at the end was even better. The Ashby UU church has a very historic building with a Paul Revere bell that we rang at the start of the evening. Before we locked up, about eight of us climbed up into the steeple, next to the bell, and stood up there for a short time looking out at the spectacular view. I’d done this once before, but in daylight. You have to be fairly fit: there are stairs and ladders and two trap doors involved, and it’s a bit scary–I’m petrified of heights, which is exactly why I do this! What a rush, though–I came down totally high on endorphins. It was gorgeous night, clear and starry, not too cold, and the slanted floor/roof around the bell wasn’t icy at all. For the second time that day, I was completely euphoric as I drove back to the lake.
Of course, by then, everyone was waiting for me so they could open presents, oops. But we did that, and presents were enjoyed by all. Z. loved his mug. 🙂 Dad gave me a couple of DVDs I asked for, but Jill and dad and I are doing most of our presents tomorrow after she gets here. I’m going up tomorrow afternoon and cooking a roast beef dinner, and we’ll get Christmas all over again! I shipped some of Jill’s family’s gifts out there, and dad was visiting them last week, so we really spread our holiday out these days.
I got home feeling like I’d had a really lovely day! One odd thing: the Ashby church service seemed lightly attended compared to past years that I’ve gone. When I got back, Z.’s family said that the same thing was true at the Winchendon church, they’d never seen such a small turnout for Christmas Eve. It was very nice weather, so we can’t figure it out. Today I’ve just been chilling–and wrapping presents for tomorrow–and I’m hoping that Jill’s travel plans won’t be glommed up by this ginormous storm. It’s mostly rain but there could be some icing, so I’ll be chewing my nails until Jill’s plane is safely here.