Of Rain for Christmas~~~~

Hello My Darklings,

Yes I have not been posting, well everyone wants me to get well and strong and all kinds of good stuff is the best way to describe it.

My Sister and Sister in law and I have been shopping for goodies for the Christmas dinner my fantastic Stove is going to be put to heavy duty work, but with everyone tackling everything it will be done in fantastic time. 

A few things need to be purchased at least no sooner than tomorrow but things that can be kept frozen like pies are no problem, but I am having a hard time keeping olives in the pantry, it seems that when ever the children are over the black olives seem to disappear, and re-appear on the ends of their fingers.   Doyle is going to hide the next batch in his office since he keeps it locked from prying eyes.

Thanks to everyone the house is wonderfully decorated and with scented Vanilla and Cinnamon candles it smells like things are baking all the time. 

And peace rides high in our neighborhood ever since the restraining order was put on "Crazy Son",  but what is making him even more angry is his sister has moved in and is staying with the parents, lovely lady, very nice.

And rain, rain, RAIN!!!  Lovely, cold, blustery, chilly, wet RAIN!  

Of course the house is nice a warm and snug for a large Victorian but just lovely.

I am getting much better, the Doctor said I can go to Midnight Mass Christmas Eve, I never miss Midnight Mass, it is one of the most magical nights of the year and are you ready for this My Darklings,  We are going to have a Full Moon on Christmas Day night, if it's not overcast.   The last time this happen was in 1977. 

But Christmas Eve it will be raining here so I do hope Santa has his Rain Gear (sorry for the very bad pun).

There has been a lot of traffic accidents and trees falling down and power outages,  Doyle surprised me with buying oil for the old-fashioned lamps that I have as decoration and trimming the wicks and filling them up.   "Just to be prepared" he says,  well as a little girl and as a teenager there was more than one time we put together a puzzle or played board games by oil lamp.

And as a gift to the house he bought one of those crank up radios so we'll have news and/or music, just in case. 

Well this old house has seen in its time living by lamp light and candle light, with crank up phonograph, and books and board games of its day.  So it would be nothing new. 

This weekend my brother and Doyle went into the attic to check for any leaks, not that there is any, the roof is only 10 years old, but with the drought things can get dry, so far things are fine, but Chris and Coralline went up there as well and as the men looked for leaks the children found a treasure trove of Stereoscopic pictures and the devices used to view pictures in 3 D.   I had not realized there were so many, 3 large boxes worth,  and two viewers, I said that I didn't have a place to put them but young people are resourceful.

Going back into the attic with their father they came back down with a vintage light weight bamboo table with three shelves, with a careful dusting and use of lemon polish it was brought back to its original luster  and now the pictures and the viewers sit proudly on them in the formal parlor.   My brother offered to take it back up to the attic but I said no, leave them there, something told me they belonged there. 

The nurse only comes by twice a week now, she'll be by the Morning of Christmas Eve but she thinks by next month I may not need her but that will be decided by the Doctor,   Betty plans to come by every day during the week except for Christmas Eve and Day,  on the weekends my sister or sister in law keep an eye on me, but I'm feeling pretty good.  I still take medicine for the cough but that has improved, and I have an asthma inhaler as well and have to do breathing exercises.   The nurse said that in time the Doctor will say I'm fine and won't need to do that,  I suspect it won't be until Spring.  Am I being cranky?

I'm still sleeping down stairs but I've been encourage to do stair exercises so I go up 6 steps and come down 6 steps several times and I do it several times a day but only when someone is in the house.   But I feel I'm be able to tackle the full first complete set after New Years.

Things are looking good and I'm feeling very positive,  I had fun telling the children about Hern the Hunter and the wild Hunt and how if you go to Church on Christmas Eve you must take a piece of steel and several slices of bread, for that is the time when Hern is on the Wild Hunt looking for evil people who would harm the Christ Child with his Hell Hounds, should you meet the hounds first throw them the bread but should you meet Hern toss the piece of steel before you, then they will know you are a good person.  Otherwise----beware!

It's a good story to tell in front of the fireplace.  Even the twins were quiet.  Their Dad told me they had seen "Krampus" and my brother told them that Krampus is very, Very real.   Of course they asked me if that was so and I said I'm not going to deny it.

Christmas is the time for Ghost Stories or Stories of Wonder, at this time the dark is at it's longest time, but within a few weeks we will begin to see it getting lighter and lighter.   But there is something so delicious between Halloween and New Years, a perfect time for Ghost Stories.

Charles Dickens had it right I think, I feel we have to thank him, Prince Albert, and Clement Moore for giving us the concept of the season, minus the materialist aspect.

And now I need to go, I still have a few New Year's cards to write out thanks to friends I had not heard from in Ages,  and now I have their new addresses, for some reason this year has been a year of reconnecting with people from the past, a reunion of sorts.   Which makes me very happy.

Later Darklings

This is not photo shopped it is a photo of the northern lights forming a wolf shape.