I must have glanced out the window a thousand times today, and still there is no sign of Mount Warning. Our Sleeping Giant appears to be lost amid a steamy haze of mist and glare, now the water in the valley has finally started to evaporate. Consequently, we’ve had humid weather today.
Yesterday, however, the rain didn’t stop all day. Only a very small amount of rain was predicted, so the deluge took everyone by surprise, including my eldest daughter. She was working, so I had a cooking day planned with my granddaughter and my younger daughter Emma visited as well, with her baby. We had a wonderful time baking biscotti, rum and raisin shortbread, the pieces for a gingerbread house which Emma will decorate next week, and some gingerbread men, in preparation for Christmas Day.
By 2pm, when the rain hadn’t eased, I messaged my daughter to see how she was going. I was getting a tad concerned that she wouldn’t be able to get back home, as the road to her place is prone to flooding. She replied, saying she was finishing work early and heading back to my place. As it turned out, she couldn’t get home, so she and Aurora spent the night with me. Her husband, who had also gone to work in the morning, drove along the road to their home as far as he could, abandoned the car about five kilometres from home, then waded through waist-deep flood water to a point where someone could give him a ride home. They have a fifteen-year-old dog who had been left outside for the day, who he couldn’t bear to leave alone overnight!
Sitting up last night until 11pm, and drinking tea while chatting with my daughter was a treat that I haven’t had in many years. And waking this morning to a little girl’s voice saying “Nana” is a moment I will always treasure.
I can’t quite get my head around the fact that it’s just one week today to Christmas. This week, with the flooding, family visits, and trying to prepare ahead for Christmas Day, it has been quite overwhelming. I’m getting dreadfully behind with so many things, including reading blog posts, so hopefully this weekend I will have an opportunity to catch up a bit.
I have been wondering, has everyone made plans for Christmas? Or is 2020 the Christmas which will be remembered as the year when few people celebrated?
In My World 
There may be no mountain in the picture, but there is a touch of blue sky! Good you had surprise guests for an evening. Cheers to your son-in-law for what he went through to get home. Is there home OK? Meanwhile, no travel for our Christmas. We are in our church’s handbell choir, but we can’t practice. Our Christmas Eve is usually busy, but will be at home this year. Christmas Day will be just three of us for a simple meal. No travel to out-of-town family.
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Sounds like an unusually wet time, I applaud your son-in-law’s kind determination to assist his dog. The silver lining is your family sleepover… maybe you should schedule that treat more regularly?
Our Christmas day celebrations are always low-key, since the boys’ teen-age years when they preferred to go snowboarding. I will miss seeing my siblings as we always would gather for a party every year, but haven’t seen but two of them (I have 6) since March. I am content to wait for a safer year. One son and his fiancé live close by and we have an outdoor walk planned for Christmas Eve day. But other than that, C-19 has us still in lockdown.
Hope yours is merry!
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That was an exciting and wonderful day and overnight for you! Having grandchildren in the house and a daughter to chat with until late are very sweet blessings.
It will be just Tim and me this year for Christmas. We bought a small ham, though. I’m sure there will be video calls. If the weather is good my sister and her husband will meet us outside at the beach where we can wave to each other and have a socially distanced walk and “shout” to one another for conversation. We were going to that for Thanksgiving but it rained all day. Maybe this time…
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My son will be joining us for Christmas – he has been diligently quarantining for the past week or so, and will drive up, masked when getting gas or food. So looking forward to all of us being together for awhile!
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How nice to have some unexpected extra time with your daughter and granddaughter. So glad the dog wasn’t left completely alone though! It will be very strange here as I am usually in England with my family at some stage around Christmas. And restrictions here will mean minimum visits and no shopping tours! However, I think more people are focussing on their Christmas gathering at home this year: there are more fairy lights everywhere and tree sales are booming!🎄🎄🎄
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How wonderful to spend an overnight with your loved ones. Unexpected early Christmas present! We’re doing our usual–just Barry and myself–so it won’t be that different. Although some years we do have a meal with friends. This year we’re preferring to just make a small feast here at home…although haven’t yet decided what. Only a week to go!
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