There's Got To Be a Morning After

Here we are, the day AFTER Christmas. The day when all manner of gifts are exchanged, and “Are you ready for Christmas?” is exchanged for, “How was your Christmas?” “Great!” I always answer. Some years that’s truer than others. Usually the great thing for me is that it’s over.

I’ve shared my grinchiness on this blog before, but it isn’t that. It’s just that, well, it’s a lot of work. No matter how “ready” I am (and this year I never did get EVERYthing done), it’s still a ton of work. My husband loves to cook… for an army. Any army will do. Well, at least he likes the idea of it. When it comes right down to doing it, he’s always surprised at what a lot of work it really is. Thanksgiving it was a turkey. Deep fried. When that was a success, he had to do a couple or ten more. We gave away tons and still had leftovers.

Yesterday it was a prime rib. And the day before it was a prime rib. We did a 20-pound prime rib for the shop employees on Christmas Eve, plus the side dishes, and a 16-pounder yesterday. My husband does ALL the work. I just have to help him hold and turn the prime rib for the coating, stick the dumajiggy under it when that’s done, open the oven door, make sure (on hands and knees) that the gas comes up all the way. (The stove’s an old Wedgewood, so cooking on it’s kind of a crapshoot, anyway. Sorry if that word offends. It’s a normal word in our house.) Then hold it while he carves it. It’s an oddly shaped piece of meat till you cut the ribs off. And just generally try to keep up with the dishes (you got it, no dishwasher) throughout the whole process, while I microwave/stir/open/put away/get out/clear off/set up/carry in/whatever this or that. As I said, he does all the work. So I have time to clean and wrap those last minute gifts. Which for me was all of them. Not buying last minute, just the wrapping.

And of course I learned a few things. I learned that if you give your grown kids money for Christmas, they may use it to pay you back money they owe you, so think about how much you really want to give them. I learned that the world really DOESN’T come to an end if I don’t get everything done. And I was reminded of how much we really, REALLY love our kids, and how that doesn’t even make a drop in the bucket of God’s love for us. And that God is so very THERE in every detail, moment and minutia of life. He really makes me feel like I CAN do anything. Christmas? That’s NOTHING! Bring on the next army, I’m ready! (Did I really just say that?)