Black Oak's Daughter

…has happened.  My living room is full of boxes. The manger scene is out, the Christmas village is set up, all the nicknacks are ready to be staged around the house. Most of my Santa collection is on the deacon’s bench. My table top little pre-lit tree is up, but the bigger one isn’t yet. I figure I have all week to get the tree, and the lights in the window put up. My back is pretty trashed today from all the lifting and stairs. Roomie helped a bit, but I also did housework and laundry today so I’ll be living on Advil for the night.

I’m packing some Christmas things up for Minime too. I’ve got more than enough even after giving half to my ex, so I’ll give her some of the extra stuff to get her life on her own a little more decorated this time of year. It’s also part of my simplifying. I don’t need 8 crates of Christmas stuff to decorate 3 rooms. She may as well benefit from it.

Last year I did very little decorating. Christmas was enjoyable. Everyone around me made sure that after what I’d been through, there was some celebrating to be had. I had surgery 2 weeks before Christmas, so I was still doing a fair amount of recovering too, but the part where I decorate and make candy and cookies and enjoy all of the music and stuff like that was missing.  I didn’t mind too much, it was missing because I had successful surgery and I was, and remain cancer free, and that was a serious relief, but I still have to admit I missed it a little bit.

I have my little Christmas traditions, like setting up the manger scene that used to be on our mantle every year, and unwrapping my set of the sequin and beaded ornaments that I helped my mom make. She made four of each kind and boxed up three sets of them for when her kids were old enough to have their own tree. Those ornaments are 40 years old, and the pins are a little loose. Every year I fix whatever’s come loose on them with crazy glue and then hang them on my tree. Every year I think about how much I loved helping mom put the right kind of bead or sequin on the pin and handing them to her to stick into the foam ball.

I made anise candy yesterday too.  This year I put a new twist on it. I couldn’t find my candy molds, so I used a gingerbread house mold and that worked better than I expected.  I may make a few more batches and give a house or two as presents.   I still have to make the rum balls too. Maybe Minime will help with that on the 23rd.

Today was a little disappointing too. I thought I’d be better off physically by now. I’ve been double dosing antibiotics all week because my kidney is flaring up and they’re not helping, so I have better ones that the doc gave me for when the first one didn’t work. I’m starting those tonight. Just three days worth, so it’s not so bad. They don’t make me too sick. Exerting as much as I did today really showed me once again how much kidney infections suck. I pushed as much as I’m willing to push today. The work will still be there tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll feel better. I’ll make the appointment for a fresh set of kidney tests after the holidays.

The good news is that after this week I have NINE WHOLE DAYS off, and then I work 3 days and have five more off.  I’m pretty much done Christmas shopping. There’s just a few little things left to pick up. The decorating will be done by the end of this week.  Saturday I’m going to a cookie baking party. Sunday I’ll clean house, Monday I’ll make the Lasagna sauce, Tuesday I’ll put together the lasagna for Christmas Eve.  Minime will be here Tuesday sometime, so we’ll hang out a bit. Wednesday my brother and his wife and kid are coming for supper, Thursday is the yearly gathering at my aunt and uncles. Friday Minime leaves and Best Friend and her crew will be here for dinner. It’s shaping up to be a relatively laid back and very enjoyable week.  I haven’t entertained much in the last couple of years, so having 2 dinner parties in three days will be fun and probably a bit challenging, but mostly fun. Lasagna is a lot of work in advance, but for the most part there’s not a lot of prep on the day of the party other than making some garlic bread and a salad.  If the weather doesn’t suck, I’ll call my photographer friend and see if he wants to go to the holiday thing at the zoo over the weekend. They do it up right, and that would be a nice way to finish a nice week.

So, this year, Chrismas is almost here. I’m enjoying the pace. There’s not the overlying stress to get things done like there used to be. The things I’m doing have meaning to me, and I enjoy them. I’ve left the other non-meaningful rituals from my previous life out. The focus is on the people that I love, and on finding peace and joy within. That’s how it should be.

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