Okay, we’re there now. As there as we’re gonna be. And no, I don’t really box anything up on Boxing Day. There are twelve days of Christmas. I’m just getting started.
The shopping was finished. The wrapping, which involved the copious use of gift bags in an effort to spare my gimpy wrists and fingers, was finished. Sufficient baking and cooking was finished.
We prepare like Martha so we can worship like Mary, right?
Christmas morning I had a quiet kitchen to myself. A delightfully quiet kitchen. Sometimes you want an army of sous chefs, sometimes you just want everybody out. In my world it’s often a surprise, a Forrest Gump box of chocolates, if you will, so I try to go with the flow and appreciate however things turn out.
I didn’t get up super early, but let’s all remember I am in no way whatsoever a morning person. After my daily ritual of dealing with the dishwasher, I fired up George Winston’s December album – instrumental piano music and one of my go-tos for quiet and focus.
Two pans of chocolate caramel squares, a double batch of white chocolate lemon cookies, and a breakfast casserole in the oven for an extended stay later, noon and my crew had arrived. The afternoon was spent exchanging gifts, checking in with friends via text and the interwebs, and busting out several more dishes. Devil’s food espresso chip cookies, vegetable tortilla soup, a corn pudding as big as your head, and a few lower intensity items.
Devil’s food espresso chip cookies. My people. If you like coffee and chocolate, these are a revelation.
I mean, these cookies are a sermon in the form of baked goods. If Christ defeated death when he rose from the grave, the day he was born certainly dealt a big wallop to the angel formerly known as Lucifer. Espresso chips also deal a big, delicious wallop to devil’s food.
Sermon in a sack, friends.
Speaking of attacks of the enemy, he likes to customize his flaming arrows as much as we like to customize our espresso drinks. My best laid plans for a Christmas Eve day spent baking, along with a very limited list of essentials, started with an adventure sliding through freezing fog on the way to the grocery. Early enough to avoid any major crowd, but still on what my cashier said was the second busiest day of the year.
“Oh, what’s the busiest day?” I asked, expecting perhaps the day before Thanksgiving.
“Yesterday.”
Bahahaha. I was there on Christmas Eve Eve, too. But when you solidify the Christmas day evening menu over twenty-four hours in advance, which really is an achievement, you make a second trip to the store if you have to.
Okay, so no morning baking, but maybe I could get some gift wrapping done.
Eh, sort of. Even that required more effort and furtive moves than I thought it would.
And then that afternoon, the mail arrived. With a surprise gift from a friend. A thoughtful friend who knows me well and makes me feel seen.
So guess what happened next.
Totally predictable if you really think about it.
Maybe you don’t name the specifics, but you can get this one right.
Two words … plumbing emergency.
Not all that messy, but lots of water and a snake were involved.
Satan may be a fan of customization, but he’s not really that creative.
Said plumbing emergency (PE) threatened to make us miss the candlelight service at church.
But we overcame the PE and arrived with time to spare.
In my current environment, distractions, noise, changes of plans, and chaos are often the enemy’s way to throw me off my game. For others, loneliness and a lack of community hit them where it hurts. For many, or even most of us it changes depending on the season of life.
Don’t let chaos distract you from reaching out to those who may need you. Don’t let loneliness or fear of rejection keep you from reaching out for the community you need.
I could write an entire post on each of those thoughts, and perhaps I will in the future, but for now my needs involve dinner. And tomorrow is another day.
