Christmas Back on Schedule

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, 
stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.” 

I said I couldn't do it.
I said I wouldn't do it.
But,  I did!

There were stipulations.
I would not place a single ornament until I had an
absolute guarantee the Christmas tree would not
fall again.

First there was a bit of surgery.

and a bit of tethering.

Once the tree was standing.
and the lights checked.

I began, totally against my will, the redressing.
It didn't take much for me to become totally obsessed.
It is who I am.

With the simple act of picking up each surviving piece and finding
 the perfect bough to place my memories,  I felt Christmas returning.

R. ask if I was planning to put out the Santa collection.

I had thought I would leave them packed away this year,  but there he stood holding the container filled with a collection assembled over the length of our 33 years together.
  I couldn't resist the anticipation in his eyes.

The music of Christmas is playing here at Living Life.
And my heart is feeling lighter.



“And what happened then? 
Well, in Whoville they say that the Grinch's small heart 
grew three sizes that day”