"He HADN'T stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME! Somehow or other, it came just the same! "

In spite of the fact that Husband, kitties and I have to cram all family activities into two days a week now, we are doggedly ensuring that the important things get done. It's knowing where to cut corners and what not to get hung up and obsessive over that has made it possible so far, I guess.

So tonight the Christmas tree is up and decorated and as you can undoubtedly make out from it's unnaturally layered boughs, it's an artificial one for the first year since we bought the house... a compromise to time and the fact that it's doubtful anyone's going to be around enough to water a real tree properly this year, making it a safety issue as well. The cats were less impressed by an order of magnitude than they are with a real tree - Mojo was very disappointed that there was no owl check - but they'll have to adjust their expectations to get along as well :) Anyway, it's what it represents that counts, and its plastic boughs are full of two childhoods' worth of memories, and fifteen years of shared Christmases.

To the right of the tree - you'll barely be able to make it out - is a quilted wall hanging my Mother-in-law made for us, of the Three Wise Men on the road to Bethlehem with the Christmas star shining in the distance. I'll have to take a better shot in daylight. She does all her quilting by hand - no machine stitching - and her work is exquisite. I have a bunch of gifts she's given me that I really treasure.

All those snowstorms you see on your television whalloping various parts of the US all end up in one place - here - on their way out the door, and we're getting hammered again overnight. My manager decided as early as Friday that I would work from here on Monday and not even consider driving to Moncton; a relief, and I have a bag full of files with me to keep me busy Monday (and, as it happens, Tuesday morning; we have a meeting here in town on Tuesday afternoon so she said to wait until then before bothering to make the commute).

You can imagine how relieved I am not to have to even worry about fretting over when it's "safe enough" to hit the highway tomorrow. So far, I've been overwhelmed at how much everybody, but in particular my manager (who is the only person whose opinion matters when the rubber hits the road) has bent over backwards to make the commuting situation easier for me. (For example, when I asked to take Christmas Eve - which is a Monday this year - off without pay to ensure I'm not stranded in Moncton by weather for Christmas [my best-case scenario was driving there pre-dawn Monday, working until closing time, and getting home around 8 Christmas Eve - not much fun], she not only initially said to take it, she went on to say that I should set up a meeting with a group here in Fredericton that day and work from here - that way I get paid, too.) That attitude makes everything much, much easier.

So it's a busy life, but the Grinch will get no joy at our house. Christmas is coming, we'll make sure of it.

ronnie