Count Down 2009 Festive Season

December 22, 2009
The On-going Journal of Christmas Eve Countdown

1.    I went downstairs to make tea to relieve the recurrence of this weird cold-flu thing that started December 8 and seemed to have run its course.  I didn't go to the Solstice party but I did burn the bit of paper I intended to burn in the bonfire.  Whatever I have, whether it is a recurrence or something new, is causing my lungs to feel clogged and heavy and I suspect my asthma is acting up.  Anyway hot fluids seem to help so I made tea.

2.    While I was waiting for the tea to steep I decided to feed Kenya.  I keep her food in the utility room and once again I smelled something disgusting in that room.  I had been getting whiffs of it for ages but today it was really strong.  I removed all movable items one at a time and sniffed each in turn.  Nothing.  I swept as I did and made some executive decisions about which things could spend the winter months in the porch. Then I decided to look behind the freezer.  Oh dear.  There it was.  A roast of beef rotting in the corner.  Yeech!  I pulled the freezer out as far as possible, dragged out the package, and filled a pail with hot water and cleaner.  Then I began swabbing away at the offensive blotch on the cement floor.  After a few good moppings, I changed the water in the pail and added vinegar and went back to work.  When I had finished, the room looked infinitely tidier and smelled truly clean.  Terrible waste of roast beef, of course.  And what are dogs for if not to alert one to the things their noses can detect long before they become high enough for a 69 year old nose to recognize.

3.    I have too many things to finish before Christmas I am afraid.  Five handmade gifts have been started or planned but may not be finished in time.   I will work as much as possible today, tomorrow and Thursday, and try to complete as many as possible.  They are all for people I love ... and so I may have to beg their forgiveness and ask some of them to accept promissory notes.

4.    Well ... just got started knitting ... not on one of the gifts hanging over my head but on one that is on my needles that won't have to be wrapped till after Christmas  ... and then Kenya came in with a goopy eye and needed first aid.  I suspect she may have been swiped by the unsheathed claw of the local feral cat she likes too well.  Good thing I had a goopy eye for half of last year and had the remedy close at hand ... and good thing she is such a patient dog, especially when I managed to treat the wrong eye first.  You would think that a dog with one blue and one brown eye would not be subjected to such things.  I put it down to feeling a little scattered because I am falling behind.

5.    One just needs polyurethane!  10 a.m.  It was one of those projects that started as one idea and then morphed into another because I didn't feel good about the first ... but in the meantime I was immobilized by indecision.  Now I have to find an image for the second one ... I think I know what I want ...

6.    2:30 and the dog has been walked, a Christmas tree cut and hauled down, mail picked up, and I have both gifts to the polyurethaning stage.  I decided after looking at the tree inside that I wanted it outside where I can decorate it for the chickadees.  I will start doing that tomorrow.  One of the nicest pieces of mail was a photo of Chelsea Katherine.  I know all women who are related to a new baby say this baby is beautiful  ... but honestly she is translucent ... she looks like an angel.

7.    Just received word that Mud Mama and gang will not be descending on the hermitage after Christmas.  I will of course see them all but this means that I don't have to put away my entire life for a week ... and that's a good thing because I really should start working on the two chairs I have promised for January because I am going to Deb's for a few days early in the month.

8.    It is now 8 p.m. and I have been knitting and thinking and polyurethaning ... and talking on the phone and realizing that I have some things to prepare for tomorrow, others for Christmas Eve, and still others for Christmas Day ... but nothing is impossible and everything will be fun.  Tomorrow I have to get cash and enjoy lunch.  The next day I am the squash lady.  Christmas Day I am the dessert woman.


Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah, Everyone!