Christmas countdown

Advent is possibly my most favorite time during the year. It seems that as soon as December 1st hits there's a whole new excitement in the air, everything smells better, the general feeling all around is for lack of a better word "different" but good different, everyone (for the most part) is in better spirits, there is a feeling of goodwill t'ward all men in the air and I like it that way.

Advent this year started off a little different than expected, yes the kids were each given their chocolate advent calenders as soon as the last bite of their breakfast was devoured and that was about the only routine thing that happened around here.
Right after the breakfast dishes were put away I received a call from the high school asking me to please go get Victoria, she was complaining of a sore throat, blah,blah,blah. Not being the most sympathetic mother, my first question was "Does she have a fever ? " I was told no, so I'm thinking "Bah, humbug she needs to suck it up." but I went and got her anyway. All the way home she's telling me no it's not a normal cold, there's something else going on would I please make an appt for her to see the Dr, all I'm thinking is $10 for a sick note, I don't think so, but let me look at your throat any way." So equipped w/ flashlight I peered in to the caverns of her mouth and GROSS, her tonsils are as big as Christmas baubles, so a call was indeed made to the Dr, the whole town is sick so she will be going later today and I'm sure we will be given the verdict that, yes Virginia she does have Tonsillitis, here is a prescription to make it go away.

Once phone calls were made and appointments locked in, I took Reagan to school, ran errands, picked Reagan up, came home and EEK, no power, nothing new around here, if the winds hit 10 miles an hour our power will go out, so not thinking much about it I went on w/ my routine until at 5pm I noticed the neighbors porch lights were coming on yet alas we were still in darkness, with no heat and no water. After a trip to the neighbor it was apparent that we were in fact the only house with this affliction and so a call to the power company was made, 4 1/2 hrs later, our power was restored. During this time we broke out the camping stove and made burgers which were eaten in the living room under a blanket *EEK*, milk was warmed on said stove to make hot cocoa as we were all freezing and had nothing else to drink, the kids played board games and read by candlelight and we froze our tails off because I'd turned the heat all the way down to 60 before leaving earlier in the day, to conserve power. HA, the irony.
During that time though, we also spoke about the season and what it meant to each of us, as we (I) was complaining about being so cold we thought about the homeless and how they are cold like this every night and vowed that by the end of the week a package will go out to Bean for her hat and glove drive for the homeless, as I was whining about how freaking hard it was flipping a burger while holding a flashlight and not splashing myself with grease, Marc reminded me that at least we were able to feed our kids a hot meal, so stop complaining. The kids were upset that they weren't going to get to watch the Shrek Christmas movie, but again we were reminded how there are kids in other parts of the world that don't even know what a T.V is, the best they get in the way of entertainment is a stick and some rocks and yet still they are happy.
A lot of reflection was done and I don't think it could have come at a better time. So many of us get caught up in the commercialism of the season that we forget what it is really all about.
So today as you go about your business take some time to smell the holly and think about what this holiday season really means to you. Hopefully it'll be more than the plastic underneath the tree.