Christmas 🎄

My knee is feeling much better. I resorted to buying Aleve last Thursday and by Saturday the pain had diminished. I don't know whether to credit the naproxen, post hoc, or if it was just time healing as it usually does. Jay's back is also getting better. So in spite of the fact that we are both missing the Christmases we shared, this year's wishes were answered.

A young couple on my street invited me to Christmas Eve dinner at their house. There were small children, moms and dads, some grandparents and friends. It was a lively, warm gathering and the meal was delicious. It wasn't the traditional Eve with Jay and the Pollock's, but to paraphrase the Stones, "If you can't be with the ones you love,
Love the ones you're with."

When I got home, Jay and I sent a few Kakaotalk messages back and forth and then I went to bed, fortunately early. Because I was wakened before 7:00am Christmas morning by the cheery ring of Kakaotalk, almost as welcome as the giggle of a child. It was May wishing me Merry Christmas just as they were heading to sleep. This is the sweet little mime she included in her message:



I was happy to receive it but not ready to get out of bed. Sweetness and giggles have their limit, and I was glad that it was all virtual reality for me and I could drop my iPhone under my bed, roll over and sleep some more. When I did wake up it was to a crazy coincidence. I reached up and turned on the radio to hear, "It's a marshmallow world in the winter...". I didn't have sweet dreams but I had two sweet awakenings, not that I like that song so much, but the coincidence pleased me.



Violets and a sprig of lavender in the back yard. Other than the year we spent in Puerto Vallarta, this is the first time I haven't had a white Christmas.