The "Gift" that keeps Returning

It figures.... this damn gift began arriving every year when I was teaching.... I keep hoping I'll finally be able to resist receiving it, but every year it keeps returning.... the dreaded after-Christmas Cold. I knew I was in trouble last night when I went to bed and felt an annoying tickle in the throat. When I woke up the morning, it had arrived.

You would think I would have learned by now - take Airborne before the Christmas services, and maybe even the week before. I drank a glass of it this morning, but it's probably too late. All I can do is hope that it still boosts my immune system enough to fight off a worse cold yet. The problem is, my system fights against it all on its own every year until the day after Christmas. Then as soon as I relax - wham! Every infectious germ I have picked up in the month of December bands together to attack me. Crap.

I'm not admitting defeat yet. I am still going to try to do something fun this week before being completely grounded by the damn cold. Wonder if they have a place I can return this "gift?"

Merry Christmas!

Somehow it always comes together.... all the services went well, the kids sang beautifully and recited all their lines clearly and enthusiastically, the sermon was done with time to spare. We even made the local CBS news . They came to film part of our 5 pm family worship and I've managed to catch the clip this morning and again tonight. (Gee our kids were cute!)

It seems there are always some blue parts to Christmas - a couple of families at church who have had break-ins at home in the last couple of weeks, a woman who fell on her way into church today who now has a compression fracture in her back (thankfully her recent hip replacement was not damaged) - but even those were not enough to overcome the joy of the Christmas season. As hard as it is to get myself psyched beforehand sometimes, I always come out of the holiday with the warm feeling of loving and being loved.

I am unbelievably tired tonight. Now let's hope that my boys let me sleep in tomorrow for real. I need some good rest this year.... Lent is just a little over a month away! But for now, I just want to enjoy and soak in the Christmas joy for a while. Here's wishing you all the blessings of Christmas for the season. :)