Have you ever questioned some decisions? Have you wondered am I doing what I'm supposed to be doing?
Since my trip across New York back in October, things have been pretty quiet.
Work has been work. The family has been family. And life has been, well, life.
Thanksgiving came and went, and the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season began.
This year, we headed to Boston to spend Thanksgiving with my brother-in-law and his family. We had a ton of fun, as usual, and came home thankful.
A few days later, we kicked off the season with our town's firetruck parade and fireworks!
As I have typically done, I waited until after B's birthday before getting all the decorations out. I want him to enjoy his birthday, and for it to be all about him.
I don't want him to feel he has to share his birthday.
And I think it worked. He is still on cloud nine over visiting a penguin, in an experience he will never forget.
But since that weekend, just a few short weeks ago, the need to go all out on Christmas decorations, cards, presents, etc., just hasn't been "there."
Now, I've been in the spirit. I've been singing Christmas songs, eating candy canes and chocolate Santa's and wearing my Ugly Christmas sweater. And don't forget the annual, bike ride with Santa.
But the unstoppable urge to put up the Christmas tree, get all the decorations out...i just didn't feel it.
So apologies...there are no Christmas cards this year.
There was no sense of urgency. I didn't feel like I had failed by not doing all the Christmas things.
Maybe it was because we were invited to go hang out with my brother-in-law and his family in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Yup, the Polsgrove's were going to Dollywood for Christmas!
We looked at airfare, figured out if we had vacation time, but in the end we decided it was better to just stay home and have a nice little quiet family Christmas.
And it was right where we were supposed to be.
The boys wrapped up school, and we enjoyed a weekend of watching Christmas movies, and finally getting the Christmas tree put up.
B did all the decorating, which was delightful!
On Sunday morning before Christmas, one of the ladies I rode with on the Erie Canal Trail had her well pump go out. No water!
Oh...and did I mention it was 5 degrees outside. It was the coldest day, in 2 + years!
Her husband and his plumber friends got the old one out, and a new one in, but that meant their water would not be usable for a couple of days.
Dark brown water came through the faucets and toilets.
Yuck!
Three days before Christmas, with a house full of guests, and more coming for Christmas day, and no water for cleaning, cooking, showers, etc.
I quickly offered my showers, and laundry facilities.
She stopped over on her way to work and grabbed a quick shower. She texted later that day telling me her house was now with out power, but luckily it came back on within an hour.
Oh boy!
I told her to come back the next day if she needed to. I also offered my kitchen to cook (or at least prep) the food for Christmas.
She said she'd let us know. And she did...her neighbors had come through, and the water was starting to get better.
The next day, Christmas Eve eve, our neighbors came home at dinner time to a house with no heat.
Again, we jumped to offer help. We delivered space heaters, water and our heated home while we figured out what was going on, and see if someone could come out at 8pm to fix a boiler.
TI'm going to back track a minute.
This was our neighbor who had suffered a stroke this summer, while his wife was at a continuing education class in New York. His 13 year old son called 911 at 4am.
I didn't write about this at the time, because it was just so surreal.
It still is.
He's alive, and after 5 months of hospitals and rehab he is home. But he spends a lot of time in a wheelchair. His speech is sometimes hard to understand, and you can see the frustration in his eyes. His right leg and arm don't work too well.
This man was very active and just a great person. It hurts to see him this way, but we are thankful he is here, and is still a great guy.
He hasn't lost his sense of humor.
His wife is a doll, and the kids are wonderful. Their son is one of B's best friends...spending tons of time talking about Pokemon, Magic, Dungeons and Dragons, Nintendo games...all the stuff I have no idea about. His dad understood this stuff too.
Kids are definitely resilient, and you can see this family pulling together to make their new reality work.
Anyway, all these crazy events made me realize, that if we had gone away, we would missed all this.
This is not meant to be a "look at us" kinda moment.
Instead, all these crazy things happending to my friends just made me realize that maybe we weren't meant to be in the Hills of Tennessee for Christmas? Maybe, we are supposed to stay local, and be there for our friends and neighbors.
This is the season for giving, and being generous with our treasure, be it time, talent, or $$$. Maybe the reason I wasn't "into" decorating, even though I was feeling excited for Christmas, was because I was going to be "used" in a different way this season.
It makes me really happy that we are here where we belong. I would feel so bad if my friends were having these issues, and no one was here to help out.
So now, on Christmas Eve, I ran to the store at 8am, while it lightly snowed, to grab a bunch of ingredients to make some vegan dishes for them.
Their heat is back on, but their water isn't. Some of the pipes have frozen, and if they are heated up too quickly, they will burst. In fact, one may have, so they turned the water off. So, no water for now.
They'll be coming over for showers this week. It sounds like the plumber can't come back until Monday, and they will need to cut into the wall. He tried earlier from a different spot, but couldn't get to the right spot.
Also amazingly, is how so many others have come out to help. Yes, it may be their job to come out at 9pm on Christmas Eve eve, but the plumber didn't have to say "no charge tonight". And other neighbors didn't need to come help either.
Friends don't "have" to come over and help pull out 400 feet of line to fix and then install a new well pump in single digit weather.
Did I mention those neighbors who came home to no heat, left their apartment because they lost heat, and the pipes froze? Yup.
You can't make this stuff up.
But, you know that no good deed goes unpunished.
The turkey I had been thawing for the past 5 days is still frozen. So guess it will not go in the brine today, and we won't have turkey tomorrow for Christmas dinner. Fortunately we found out as we were prepping the brine. And luckily, the stores were still open for another hour or so, so we could grab a ham for Christmas dinner.
Now it's time to slow it down, and prepare for Christmas.
Tonight I feel I have to go to church. And, I usually don't feel that way. But they way things have gone the past couple of days, I want to go. No, I need to go.
It's a stong pull. So I'm going, either with or without the family. And it's ok.
Tomorrow is Christmas. And gifts will be opened. But I feel like I have the greatest gift of all. Friends and neighbors who would help me out if something happened.
So, I'm heading out the door, dropping off a couple of vegan dishes (I found the recipes online), and then heading to sing some carols and light some candles and be present in the moment.
Afterwards, I'll figure out what's for dinner...I spent most of my time making those vegan dishes, and neglected my family...oops. But it's ok. I have a ham for tomorrow.
Life is too short, and I want to be a better person every day.
Today was a good start.
Time to watch the Polar Express with my family, and listen for the bells of Santa's sleigh and reindeer. I still believe. And today was a good reminder.
To my family and friends and the followers of the Museum Geek Triathete...Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
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