Talk about an early start to Christmas Day! We were awakened with a major “surprise” right around 3:30 a.m. One of the loudest thunderclaps in recent memory called us abruptly from our deep slumber.
I very calmly opened my eyes and remarked softly as to the nature of the noise. Well, OK. I may or may not have bolted to a sitting position and loudly exclaimed, “WHOA! WHAT WAS THAT?!” It was one of those two. Kind of hard to remember …
And of course it didn’t take Freddy long to react. She was up on Chris’ pillow in a heartbeat, panting and pacing. Groggily, I made my way to the study to unplug the computer. Freddy joined me. Concerned about my welfare, I’m sure.
By the time I made my way back to bed, Chris was dozing back to sleep. But … I was wide awake. Unfortunately, so was Freddy. She made a beeline for the pillows again. This time I managed to head her off and pull her between us. That lasted until the next thunderclap. Chris’ mama-instincts finally came to the surface, and she wrapped Freddy in her arms.
Oh, me? I worked some more crossword puzzles. Well, until I decided that Freddy’s pacing and panting would never let Chris get any sleep. So I packed up my pillow and crossword book and took Freddy with me to the recliner. The thunderstorms continued the rest of the night. So did Freddy’s pacing and panting. She settled down a little bit around five, and I think I dozed off for 30 or 45 minutes. But we had to get up at six to get over to Kel’s for their Christmas morning. I headed back to the bedroom to get ready, and Chris was already awake. Apparently she hadn’t slept much either.We both sensed a nap in our future.
Since we were up anyway, we got ready and headed to LaMarque to be present for the grandkids there to open their gifts. I was able to sing “I’m a nut” to “assist” Josiah and Micah, who were still in bed. I passed Jachin on the stairs, so I think he heard footsteps. Glad I could help, guys.
After watching them open presents, we left to head to Cailyn’s house. We saw a faint rainbow in the sky, but as we were pulling out of the driveway, Chris glanced to her left and excitedly exclaimed, “see the rainbow now?” It had magically transformed into a Christmas Double Rainbow. Beautiful.
Back home we discovered Santa had made a stop at our house as well. Chris and I exchanged gifts. I got an Astros t-shirt, some baseball cards from a 1961 set I have been trying to complete, some graph pads and a couple of mechanical pencils. Guess now I’ll have to start actually writing on the pads. There was also a set of travel cases that will more than replace the ones we have that are in pretty shabby shape. And speaking of travel, she gave me a 2025 edition Rand McNally road map book. We use one of those on our road trips.
Funny thing … Chris found a few gifts as well. One of which was … a 2025 edition Rand McNally road map book. Imagine that. After 50 years being married, we kind of think alike. She also got a table top calendar, the first in a new book series: Claus: The Saga of the Fat Man, a pair of night vision glasses, and of course, this year’s carving based on the story I read at the Christmas Eve services. It was pretty simple. A book. A book with the name “Jesus” coming out of it. I guess that makes it a Bible, doesn’t it?
Our early morning made it imperative that we pop in a movie (1938 version of A Christmas Carol - my favorite), and settle in for a nap. We did manage to actually watch a movie or two the rest of the day. That was in between eating one of the best of all Christmas delicacies: Turkey enchilada pie. Yum. Oh! And Chris made homemade chocolate chip cookies. Yum again.
Galatians 4:4-5 says, When the time came to completion, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Father, thank you yet again for the wonder and joy of Christmas. (I’ll probably say it again). Amen.
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