Christmas Eve

So cold out there again.... I was freezing when I drove to Kroger for the few things that I'd forgotten to buy at the bigger supermarket at the beginning of the week. I wasn't the only one there just getting three or four items... lots of men on the checkout line with just a couple of grocery items in their arms.

The weatherman said that southeast Texas could even have a sprinkling of snow today, and just a few teeny flakes did happen to fall. If you blinked, you missed them, and if you looked at them sideways, you could've sworn they were just rain. The temperatures are supposed to hover around 40 for the rest of the weekend, then jump back up to the high 60s on Monday.

We're getting ready for tonight here.... just having a dinner of salmon and salad, then my husband and I will open our gifts to each other. I've just finished cleaning the house and polishing my nails... my husband is in the kitchen getting the oyster stuffing together. I've got everything ready for the dining room table... plates and platters and glassware and silverware, serving pieces and napkins, centerpiece and placecard-gifts... all done, just waiting for the final placement tomorrow morning.

I spoke to my sister last night, and she called again this afternoon. She's busy with her dinners for tonight and tomorrow as well. Just her and her husband... unless my mother goes there for dinner tomorrow. I didn't ask... she didn't say. And I didn't want to start that conversation... it never has a good ending. When the mail came today, we got a letter from my dad. He's 85 now and can only see out of one eye, yet his handwriting is still the most beautiful in the world. My grandmother used to say that his handwritten words were like the finest lace. They still are.

My mother lives alone and is an unhappy person. My father lives alone and is very lonely. My sister and I "grew up divorced," as we always call it, and it has affected us in so many ways that we can't begin to count them. It still makes me sad, especially at Christmas. Parents... the things they do with their lives that affect their children's lives in ways that they don't even imagine. There ought to be a book of rules.

Christmas Eve.... tonight will fly by in a heartbeat. Jingle Bells to one and all.