An Unexpected Gift

I have found the secret to thoroughly enjoying company during festive occasions: a clogged kitchen sink drain. Now, now, before you go rushing off to judge me as slightly touched in the head, let me explain.

On Christmas Eve I noticed that the drain was clogged (due, I'm sure at least in part, to my food preparations, namely of the breakfast casserole for Christmas morning and the ten eggshells I stupidly put down the disposal). That evening we (the pastor, the boy, and the pastor's mother and father) ate hors d'oeuvres off paper plates and served things in their packaging rather than artfully displaying them on pretty glass dishes. After all, my mother-in-law and I mused, we're not trying to impress anyone!

Once the in-laws went home and the boy was in bed, Zach and I exchanged gifts and relaxed in the living room and got to bed late. "We'll fix the drain in the morning," we decided. After all, my parents weren't coming until 10am for brunch.

Of course, as plumbing problems tend to be, the issue was harder to resolve than we thought it would be, and so the drain remained clogged for all of Christmas day. Because of this, my mother, who cannot stop herself from cleaning up and doing dishes if any are there waiting to be done, was forced to sit and relax for once during Christmastime. She couldn't help with anything. I'm an out-of-sight-out-of-mind type of person when it comes to dishes, so I wasn't bothered by not being able to do them. It only bothered me the next day when I couldn't find a knife to cut something.

We spent the entire day lounging by the roaring fire, chatting, petting the dogs, watching Calvin enjoy his presents, and just . . . relaxing. No dishes, no cleaners, no paper towels, no soap suds, no near collisions in my tiny kitchen. Just rest. It was so wonderful.

The issue is fixed now and the dishwasher has been run and other items have been handwashed, but the house is still sort of a mess from Christmas. I'll allow for a week of messiness between Christmas and New Year's because I know in the back of my mind that come the first week of January all the decorations will be stored away and I will be in full New Year cleaning mode and it will all work itself out by Martin Luther King Day.

And now, we're off to celebrate Christmas three more times, our 10th wedding anniversary, New Year's, and my birthday. Christmas Day is just the beginning. Happy Holidays, indeed.