Where did Christmas Go?

My Grandmother once told me when I was a young teenager that time passed more quickly as you get older. At the time, I thought that was a ludicrous statement. After all 60 minutes is always 60 minutes! But, as with most things she said, she was "spot on" with this one, too. It is so hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone and it'll soon be 2008!

For some reason, I found it a bit difficult to fully get into the Christmas spirit this, but did have fun shopping for special gifts for special people. My staff is always a problem, so took them to lunch and purchased a "Flock of Hope" (chickens, ducklings, and goslings) from Heifer International in their honor, and they seemed quite pleased with that. Went in with others to get gift cards for our two supervisors so that became a no-brainer. Other gifts seemed to fall into place on my several shopping ventures.

There were several downers during the season, something I've come to expect as a normal part of life, at least of my life. A couple of them were expected; a couple hit me with some surprise, but nonetheless, they're all real and mark some more important changes in my life.

There were many positive highlights during the season as well: dinner at Shaun's as the guest of my supervisor, the Christmas carol service at church, time with family and friends, and last, but not least, the Christmas Eve service at church. I almost didn’t go. My son called and said he was too tired from his recent trip to NY to stay up that late and somehow I didn't want to go alone. I sat around all evening by the tree (all my presents were already wrapped--Yea! That's a first) and then finally at 10:00 decided to go. Rather than just wearing jeans, which was my first thought, I decided to "dress up" and enjoy. Got there about 10:35 and the church was rapidly filling up; delivered a bag of gifts to friends, found a seat (had to step over someone sitting in the end seat) and just as I sat down, saw CC&K and stepped back over this person to deliver a photo to them. Stepped back over him once again as I sat down. About this time, as the church was filling up, he slid over and sat next to me, introduced himself and we had a great short conversation before the service began. And the service was beautifully done! "Lessons in Carols" done better than it has ever been done there before. John and I shared a hymnbook and carried on a conversation as we walked out of church together. The combination of the beautiful service and meeting a new friend helped make the evening most special and truly got me into the Christmas spirit!