“One More Sleep ‘til Christmas.”

The title of this post comes from the awesome movie Muppet Christmas Carol, a fabulous family film that I added to my must-watch Christmas list the moment I first saw it in the early ‘90s.

Christmas Eve was hectic. I was running around all day. I did laundry and started packing. Then, after lunch, Mom announced she was going to Des Moines and I realized I hadn’t deposited my roomie Rakel’s rent money. (I’d been carrying around $700 of her cash for quite some time. It made me nervous, but I just hadn’t made it to the bank.)

We went online and discovered that the bank would only be open until 2. If we left immediately, we just might make it! Well, we hopped into the car and made it just before the door was locked. When we got home, I had time to do just a little packing, shower and slap on clothes and makeup for the early Christmas Eve church service.

The church service was so lovely. Usually it’s a candlelight service, but for the early service, the church provided glow sticks instead. “I feel like I’m at a rave,” I whispered. Mom laughed and replied, “Well, it’s better than drippy hot wax any day.” We sang tons of carols, and the moment church was over we were in the car again. I went back to packing, and before I knew it, it was time to go to Alice’s house.

Alice is Mom’s best friend, and her house was bustling with family and friends. Alice served up delicious food and lots of laughs. Her granddaughters had been arguing over the names of the elves, and I was amazed how impressed people were that I knew them all. (Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph.)

When we got home, Nathan S. was there with his wife and children. Nathan was my brother’s classmate in high school, and now he works construction. He’s been helping my parents to fix up their house, and the two families have bonded. Nathan’s oldest boys were wilder than March hares, but the youngest was cute as can be in a tiny Santa suit. It was 11 p.m. by the time they left. Then I had packing to do, and 40 winks to catch before flying out to Arizona Christmas day. Well, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!