Tuesday 23 December 2008

Are we nearly there yet?

Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat as they say and we've just about reached the stage of being ready for Christmas and being able to settle down to enjoy the festivities. We're off out tonight for the last bits of food and then we can come home and hole up. Tomorrow we can spend the day wrapping presents to put under the tree.
What I'm really looking forward to is the nine lessons and carols service at church. This year it's being held on Christmas Eve for the first time which is really good. I always find that it sets the scene for Christmas and brings home the real meaning for the season. All I need to do now is prepare the prayers which I'm leading....best get my finger out with that then.

Sunday 21 December 2008

Why is it...

that the day before I'm due to finish work for the Christmas holiday I come down with laryngitis? It's not the first time this has happened - the year before last I had the flu over Christmas... I mean, there's loads to be done, our house still hasn't recovered from the new boiler going in and then with the garage being burgled we had an influx of boxes which had been stored in the garage move into the dining room....

Robin's still not up to much, I've spent most of the last couple of days asleep, in bed or sitting pathetically on the sofa when my intention was that I would use this two weeks off to go through the house like a whirlwind and sort it out from top to bottom so that it was all clean and tidy ready for the new year. As it is, we're going to be lucky if we can get to the dining table for Christmas dinner...

Still, I shouldn't complain, we do at least have a roof over our head and food to eat. We had a visit at church recently from an organisation called Compassion who enable sponsorship of children in third world countries to give them education and food etc. It's a really good worthwhile scheme, although I'm leaning more to Tearfund because more of the money goes to the child rather than scheme admin although you don't sponsor a child individually with them. (Other similar schemes are done by Worldvision and Plan - UK , ActionAid and SOS Children for those who are interested.) But just reading about what those children go through on a daily basis puts everything into perspective and makes you realise just how lucky you are. Ok so I've not won the lottery, I don't have a mansion and drive a flash car... but I'm loved, cared for, have plenty to eat and drink and don't have to walk miles to get it. Neither do we have to worry about rains which wash meagre crops away or invading armies who raze villages to the ground... all in all, actually, I'm really rather blessed... and hopefully the cold etc will be gone by Christmas day!