Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Mary. Marry. Maray. Mayree. Merry. Christmas

Christmas Eve.

Started at about noon.
Prior to that I was horizontal and comatose.
Exactly as planned.

Assuming/hoping that Clint, Max and Amy would choose to stay for night in Surrey rather than drive back into Vancouver after their Christmas Eve dinner/evening with Mark n Sherry, I stripped the beds in the basement and did some laundry.

And I moved my personal stuff back up two floors to The Doll Bedroom.

Me and that stairwell are becoming very good friends.

Would be nice is stair-walking decreased the size of one's stomach.

~~~~~~~~~

At 1:30, I started to get ready for church ...



























... which, as you know, didn't take much effort, based on my text above.


I parked on Commercial, then Kim and I took the skytain downtown.































... where we walked around for abit, just experiencing Christmas in the City.









































As we stepped out onto Granville, these guys were making happy music:










































































We attended Westside's 4 pm Christmas Eve service at the Centre of the Performing Arts. (Which, coincidentally, was where the ballet was on Tuesday night).




























A very grand venue for a church.

The service was fantastic. I love Christmas Eve services.
So much joy and hope.
And love.































Afterwards we had sushi as one does on Christmas Eve.

Correct that.

We didn't 'have' sushi. We gorged ourselves on sushi.
Oh my goodness.
So much food.

As it should be on Christmas Eve.
Yes?












































































































































Kim was going to see Star Wars with friends at 7 and I was going to head home.

Me: I can travel half-way across Japan by myself but I haven't a clue, here in Vancouver, how to find a skytrain station that will take me back to my truck...

Her: OK, I'll walk you to the station. Get on an eastbound train and get off in 4 stops. Once you exit, keep you head down, your purse close, your camera hidden and walk fast.

Oy.

And so it came to pass that on Christmas Eve 2017, I was alone on skytrain with men, their shopping bags and their cases of beer.



I was sitting with my purse and camera in my armpits and my head down.
I may have been chatting with God for four stops. And the four block walk. And then for good measure, all the way home.


~~~~~~~~

As hoped for, Clint, Max and Amy showed up at midnight.
We settled into my girl cave and watched that gentle, tender famous Christmas movie:





also known as:


























Haha
Nothing like a lil nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat sci fi action to usher in Christmas.


~~~~~~~~~~~~

Christmas Day started at noon with me frying bacon and Amy making french toast. (Is there a better sentence in the whole wide world?)

Drew and Dani showed up later in the afternoon; which is when we exchanged gifts, played the Ofam Jeopardy game







































and looked at the time capsule questionnaires we filled out ten Christmases ago.







































Some things never change.
Also, ten years flies by in a BLINK.















































































































































































































































































































































































After doing way too many dishes and dealing with way too many leftovers (note to self, if I ever cook a Christmas dinner on Christmas Day again (this was my first one in 7 years), then two forty pound turkeys and 10 lbs of mashed potatoes for 7 people is unnecessary) ... after that, we hung out in my basement TV room and watched Planet Earth - the desert episode -  and my heart exploded with joy.









































These are my people.
I love them.

And Christmas?
Is God's gift to his people.
Whom He loves.

And I can never watch any episode of Planet Earth without being in absolute awe of the imagination of our creative God. It kinda blows your mind if you watch it on a 4K TV...

I ended the day with a grateful heart for this life I get to live.


Three things I'm thankful for:

1. Answered prayer, a day surrounded by the people I love, and a fridge bursting with turkey leftovers.

2. A quiet Boxing Day that included eating some of those leftovers, a long walk in the neighbourhood and more time on my favorite stairwell, moving things back down to my basement bedroom.

3. My kids all arrived in Sun Peaks safely this afternoon. I am so thankful that they're together, enjoying each other's company and a week off from work/school.



Back to work in the morning for me.
Shalom, xo


1 comment:

Unknown said...

Your Christmas sounds wonderful. That turkey looks gooooood. Oh yeah, I love your family.