Christmas Eve

December 24, 2010

I am incredibly happy just sitting in my dirty little kitchen in my stinky, damp house.  I’ve been drinking hazelnut coffee and eating macaroni noodles with cheese and butter.  Reading The Awkward Age in the sunshine is my occupation this morning.  Then in a minute the sun disappeared and a dark cloud poured rain, the wind swept through.  I hardly understand The Awkward Age by Henry James, but I keep reading it.  Being in a quiet town takes away all my excuses for not reading challenging classics!

In the mornings I have the house to myself.  Josh is in the hotel kitchen serving and making breakfast, and this morning probably preparing for Christmas dinner tomorrow.  Yes, it’s Christmas Eve morning.  Jessica is working up a sweat cleaning rooms and making beds.  In fact everyone is at work except me.  So I’m going to have a cup of tea by myself.

I miss the quieter days when Maureen and Jessica and Josh finished work early and we all sat at this table together and had tea or coffee.  Jessica and Josh and I played cards.  I don’t think I appreciated those busy mornings like I should have!  But I am happy sitting here by myself too.  I’m hoping the sun will come out again and I can soak the sunshine up!

The radio is playing the only station we get out here.  They play music dating from the 70s to now.  But in my opinion they could play a bit more Christmas music.  When a Christmas song comes on I jump up and turn it up.  

This is a different Christmas.  Hardly any decorations, hardly any music, and none of the regular traditions I’m used to.  But that doesn’t make it any less Christmas time.  It may not feel like Christmas much to me, but it is and I need to celebrate it any way I can.  Even if the celebrations are not what I’m used to.

I’m ending this Christmas Eve much as I began it.  I’m sitting at my kitchen table in my stinky, damp house.  Sun has gone down and it is dark.  I’ve just been reading more of The Awkward Age and eating Nutella straight from the jar.  But I did a lot in between this morning and this evening.

Work was quieter today than yesterday or the day before.  It was pleasant though.  We had fun and it was nice to have a more laid back day before the big day tomorrow.  We’re having two Christmas dinner settings.  One at 6 and one at 7:30.  

I finished work early too.  I was home by 9:15.  Cookie made me a fabulous dinner.  I had a steak sandwich with an egg, tomato, lettuce, cheese, and hollandaise sauce on beautiful ciabatta-like bread.  Yum!  Quite the Christmas Eve dinner!  Very different from the oyster stew I grew up with!

After having dinner with Josh, I got a card game together.  We roused Jessica and played Big Two.  This is a fun card game Jess taught us.  She is quite the card shark! We have a lot of fun, the three of us, playing this game.  Playing a game made Christmas Eve feel more festive and less lonely.  They’ve both headed to bed now because they are working early.  I think I’ll head to bed soon too.  The sooner I go to bed the sooner it will be Christmas, right?

Wishing you a “sweet as” Christmas!

(That’s a Kiwi saying.)