December 18 – “The Last One”

So what does one do while waiting?  Waiting for what?  Well, for a baby to arrive, for one thing.  For a blustery cold front to arrive for another.  here on our tropical island paradise any news of impending cold weather is, well, just that … news.  Word has it that we might actually touch the 30’s tomorrow morning.  That is just unheard of.  I’m not even sure where my heavy coat is.

I did get one outdoor chore completed.  I picked the rest of the satsumas off of our tree.  there was a nice bag of them, and they were relatively juicy, but they really didn’t have much flavor this year.  I’ll wade through them one day at a time, though.  After all, they are our crop.  Chris spent the afternoon sewing again.  She finished another of her Christmas projects.  One more really big one on tap.  Not that she’ll get that one done by Christmas, but she at least checked off everything else on her list and got to “The Last One.”  I’m proud of her.

We did get in a little of the University of Houston football game.  They looked pretty good up until halftime.  That’s when we changed the channel.  Apparently things went South fast after that.  Oh, and we started wrapping some Christmas presents.  Not that we are finished shopping or anything.  We’ll get to it.  We still have almost a week, right?

Last night I finally found a combination of movies that convinced even Chris to sit back on the couch and relax a little.  It wasn’t exactly binge watching, but we did see some Hallmark movie (they all have the same plot, so I have no idea which one it was.  Ended happily though.  Then we watched A Christmas Carol.  The one starring George C. Scott.  We have seen just about all of the adaptations, and honestly, each one of them has its own merits.  The gripping scene in this one for me is when the Ghost of Christmas Present opens his robe and flashes Scrooge with the twin waifs.  Very powerful stuff.  I never remembered the brief scene where Scrooge (before the visions) runs into Tiny Tim, who is out on the street in the snow waiting for his Dad.  Scrooge, of course, blows him off, but the image of the little guy is haunting.  Right after Mean old Scrooge became Good Ol’ Scrooge, another holiday movie began … White Christmas.  Chris wanted to watch that one, too, only not at 9:30 on the night before we have to get up early for church.  Actually we don’t get up any earlier than any other day, but the emphasis should go on the “have to get up.”  There’s just something about that requirement that sends her back to school nights with the boys.  I taped it so we can watch it later.  I love the week before Christmas …

Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.”

Father, thanks for anticipation.  It really makes culmination all the more exciting.  Amen