23 December 2005

Christmas Eve Eve

The day before the night before Christmas can be its own special time. Today with my children was at once rife with high tension and relatively carefree. Without school or work as part of our daily routine, we could take our time doing as we pleased with the day. We slept late, had hot breakfast together, lounged about while watching the History Channel. Later, I worked on some translation work to earn some extra cash in the New Year while my two munchkins played with Magnetix and read books.

Rather than exert ourselves in any way by cooking at home for lunch, we went to a nearby Mexican restaurant, chatted, ate, drank sweet iced tea. Then we truly braved the crowds and bought some last minute decorations to add to the tree and a present for my boyfriend, John, since his birthday is the 28th. At the department store, we met an acquaintance, the mother of one of my son's former Cub Scout Den-mates. It felt so pleasant to have a friendly conversation, just to enjoy being part of the community. The only drawback was the drive home. Traffic was absolutely frightful. The car before us at one intersection was from Massachusetts, and its driver seemed as lost and confused as we did ourselves.

Finally we made it home. I helped my son work on a model airplane that he's assembling for a social studies project. My daughter played more with her magnetic toys. The evening ended with us watching "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" on cable television. Tomorrow morning will be filled with the smells of hashbrowns for breakfast and baked cookies for Santa Claus. I can hardly wait. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

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