These are the days of miracles and wonder.

Well, there we have it. Another year over, and a new one just begun.

It was a very strange and at times challenging Christmas. It was the first without my Father-in-Law in his customary chair at the head of the table and there was a great deal of care taken by his sons and daughters-in-law to make sure that Mom O was taken care of and surrounded by family and kept busy through the holidays.

We thought that was going to be our biggest challenge this Christmas.

There is a Jewish saying: "Man plans, God laughs". Life has a way of mocking the plans of mice and men, and what we could not foresee was another extremely serious health crisis in her family arising on Christmas Eve. (She is one of several elderly siblings, each with their own elderly spouses.)

It made for an unsettled holiday, trying to keep up the planned family breakfasts and dinners, group gift-openings and traditions, playing on the floor with the little ones and opening gifts addressed to Haven the cat, while shuttling Mom O back and forth to the hospital for extended periods of time, our family gatherings punctuated by sudden disturbing calls for the family to gather there when things took a turn for the worse. The jollity and frivolity of Christmas juxtaposed with the shadow of mortality.

These are the days of miracles and wonder, however, and by Boxing Day things took a turn for the better and Mom O's relative was much improved. That took some of the pressure off Husband and his two local brothers who had been sharing hospital duty. By that time a nagging sore throat had blossomed into a full-blown, nasty winter cold and by December 30 I was flat on my back in bed. I crawled out long enough to meet C. for a drink to ring in the New Year but I think I was out like a light by around 9:30 New Year's Eve.

I've been back at work just a half-day since.

Just to put a cherry atop the sundae, my laptop is broken and our internet was out from New Year's Eve until Tuesday.

None of which matters in light of the fact that Mom O's relative is going to make it, for now anyway, and be here for awhile longer for the family. And we were together for another Christmas, and the children continue to grow like weeds and they're all beautiful and healthy, and all the families made it through another year intact and solid. Watch for a post about all the wonderful things that made this Christmas not just challenging, but joyful.

ronnie