December 20, 2005 9:31 PM
Three hours driving around 15 square miles
Tonight I had to drop Maddy off in town at 6, pick up Jonny at 7:30, and pick up Maddy at 8:15.
When you live out in the country this becomes problematic, because if you drive home, you have just enough time to put in a load of laundry and drive back out again.
Tripp was working late, Zach had his interview for his Naval Academy nomination, and Ben was off with friends, so I bundled up all the little kids in blankets in the back seats and in between stops drove around playing the Messiah and looking at Christmas decorations.
In between about a hundred sneezes, I thought back on when I was a little girl and Christmas decorations meant a string of colored lights over the eaves and maybe around a few trees. I'm absolutely amazed at the amount of money people are willing to invest in the latest Christmas decorations - last year's white-light reindeer have been joined this year by big blow-up Santas and Snowmen, a few polar bears and penguins. Oh, and those 6' globes that blow snow all over the Santa inside.
Sheesh.
Well, I didn't say that to the kids; instead I said, "Wow, Jesse, look at the snow man!" "Daniel, look at the reindeer!" "Oh, Justin look at the penguins!"
I do find the lights beautiful, especially right now as we have a thin layer of iced-over snow to reflect them. Picture-perfect. But the big blow-up things just aren't in the same league.
I did see four nativity scenes - all different designs - out of a couple hundred displays.
I played The Hallelujah Chorus over and over until I was completely satisfied. I first heard it when I was in ninth grade and sang it in high school chorus. It awakened something in me that wouldn't be fulfilled for 24 more years. Now I realize how overly-ambitious that chorus director must have been.
Altogether, I was in the car long enough to drive to Philadelphia. But instead, I came home, took my medicine and am on my way to bed.
Comments
I think we see so few outdoor nativity scenes because the only affordable ones are day-glo plastic. We go without outdoor decorations because I can't find any God-honoring ones in our price range.
Posted by: Meredith | December 21, 2005 6:26 PM
