It was far too dark in my bedroom when I woke this morning. There are a lot of things I like about winter, but dark mornings is not one of them. It's hard enough for me to wake on any given day, but I do much better when there is light. I fought my impulse to roll over and go back to sleep, since I had so much to do, and self-imposed deadlines to complete my tasks. Now that the day is drawing to a close, I wish I hadn't bothered. I had a lot more time than I thought I did. I could have used the sleep.
For the last several holiday seasons, I volunteered with my ladies' club, wrapping presents with my friends outside of a store, for tips to raise money for the operational expenses of the club. The store provided giant rolls of wrapping paper, tape, scissors, and a limited amount of boxes and ribbon. But more importantly, they provided long tables and chairs. I currently don't have a clear table or counter in the whole house. It was all I could do to clear off (and vacuum) a wide spot on my area rug in the living room, to give myself a space to wrap presents. I should have put the effort into clearing the dining room table. I forgot to take into account that my area rug is a thin Persian carpet laid on top of slate tile. I'm pretty sure someone has beaten my middle-aged hips with a sledgehammer. My spine is compressed and crumpled like an empty aluminum soda can. I may have to take advantage of this longest night (or is it the second longest night of the year?) and go to bed early to sleep off the soreness. Maybe a cup of spiked eggnog will facilitate that merriment.
I usually enjoy wrapping presents, especially when they look so pretty under the tree. I prefer to drape ribbons and bows all over them, being creative with frothy cascades of curls and artsy placement of stripes. I tried to put curling ribbon on a few of my gifts, but I have learned the error of my ways. For a week, I have heard chewing on the back side of the tree, and had to jump up and chase Rabbit away from where she was eating all the ribbons. An old friend of ours lost a cat who ate some sort of string, when it tied up in her intestines. I'm terrified of the same thing happening to my plastic-eating baby. But the more I yell at her, the more she acts up. No threats of Santa giving her coal, no spying by a creepy elf doll will help out in this case. She's getting worse the closer the holiday comes. It's like living with a needy toddler. I'd give her a time out, but it isn't going to help. Maybe she needs a nap too. That always worked with my human kids.
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