Blessed, Blessed Light

Well, Solstice has come and gone and while the rest of the world celebrated it yesterday.... I'm a little strange. I actually don't celebrate Solstice.... I celebrate the day after Solstice and today is the day after Solstice. You see... when everyone else is celebrating the shortest day of the year I actually can't wait till it's over... then, I start celebrating the day after because we've gained just a few precious moments of daylight.

Do y'all remember last year? I started watching the daylight and I really did find that it does help to know that each day there is just a few more precious moments of daylight and you can watch that sun growing as it comes closer and closer, higher and higher, warmer and warmer, and brighter and brighter. Oh happy day! The sunrise today for my area is at 9:35 a.m. and the sunset is at 16:29 p.m.  so as of this day I will have a new little gadget up in the corner of my blog main page that has the Sunset and Sunrise and I usually follow it till the spring Equinox. So you can follow it with me too... if you want to.


Now for the promised Christmas Story.

A Lesson In Christmas Shopping

Once upon a time there was a very foolish woman. She decided to let her husband do all the Christmas stocking stuffer shopping for the two Daughters as well as all the candy and goodies that go into the stocking of herself and Teapot I mean, her husband (yes... she sent him shopping for himself.... but it's really not mean because he liked/s to pick out chocolate and treats for himself and she had other goodies for his stocking that were not treats and would make nice surprises for him.) Many times before, when they were down to the wire on time one or the other of them had gone shopping for the sweets that would make their debut in the magical stockings on Christmas morning and it had been really good because the good wife could get done everything that she needed to do and the husband didn't have to go shopping with his Daughters and watch her/them try on many different pairs of jeans only to have to pay for them in the end (and not $148.00 either!)

The good wife trusted that her husband could do this small task because he had done it before and really done a good job with it and also it was a fairly simple job... She had also given him the task of buying groceries... he had also done a good job with that in the past. He set out his way and she set out her way with the two Daughters. The shopping for the most part went really well for the good wife... (except for the jean shopping... see previous post for further details... and one crochety old fart who could be a contender for the Scrooge of the year award)! They arrived home that night, tired but satisfied that they had gotten everything they needed and would not need to go shopping anymore this side of Christmas.

The husband brought in the groceries and the good wife put them away and in the meantime there was much sneakiness and craftiness trying to get bags in from the vehicle and hidden in the house without eyes getting glimps of things that shouldn't be seen until Christmas morning.

Later, after the Daughters were nestled all snug in their beds with sugarplums bouncing around off the inside of their minds the good wife and her husband sat in the living room to have a peak at all the things that would make their way into the stockings. (Yup, the good wife saw all that she would be opening on Christmas morning too...) It was while the good wife was waiting for the husband to return from upstairs where he had hidden all the Christmas stocking treasures that she realized that there were several important items missing from the grocery list and she thought that perhaps her husband may have forgotten them... (sigh)!

The husband entered the living room with one grocery bag and one bag from another store and that was it. She looked at him in confusion and said, "Well, where's the rest of it?'

Teapot (ahh... whose kidding who... we all know the story is about this clan!): What do you mean where's the rest of it.

Frankie: Ummm the rest of the stocking stuffers.

Teapot: Are you kidding? This is it.

Frankie: For one stocking right?

Teapot: Uhh! No? This is what I got.

The colour was once again draining from the good wife's face....

Frankie: You do realize that one grocery bag is what it takes to fill one stocking right?!

Teapot: Uh...no!

They looked through the things that he had purchased and realized that they would be making another trip to town... there was just no way that they had enough to fill all four stockings even if they stretched things it would be like they had all been bad for Santa....

Then the good wife thought she had better check her banking account and noticed that there was a lot more money there than there should be.... hmmm!

Frankie: Dear, how much money did you spend on groceries?

Teapot:  $@$% (I won't say how much he actually spent but suffice it to say that it was a whole lot less than what the good wife had planned on spending for groceries).

In dismay the good wife realized that husbands should be given strict shopping lists for Christmas groceries and that Christmas groceries are not like any other grocery shopping expedition at all but in the eyes of men 'shopping is shopping' no matter what time of the year it is!

They are now going to brave the stores once again... early tomorrow morning... for stocking stuffers and the rest of the groceries that will be needed for the open house/anniversary party they are throwing on the 28th.... (yes... our anniversary is in the midts of this crazy season!)

I think I need to go lie down again... (sigh)!