I'm in the midst of a week of vacation. I normally do not get December vacations so this has been a real treat! It's far enough before Christmas so that I can begin preparing and am not in the 'panic mode' overwhelmed with stuff I've yet to do.
I picked one heck of a week to take off. The Blizzard of 2010.
I've not had to do a gosh darn thing outside of the home, so I've stayed barricaded. It's been magnificent. I've accomplished plenty inside, though no one would know it. And from what I've seen and heard, I'm awfully lucky not to have to venture into the tundra with an awful winter storm approaching.
Do you ever take a full day (8 hours) to clean out a room or a desk or even a file cabinet? You feel such a sense of accomplishment. Yet when you look around and see absolutely NOTHING changed in the room in which you were working, your balloon deflates.
That's how I feel. I know I have climbed Mt. Everest. I filed all of 2009 and 2010....I've gathered a dozen or so bags of recycles and shredded papers as well as cans and bottles to be taken to the recycle station, yet visitors entering my home would not know the grandeur of my work!
In the midst of dismantling my files and having them strewn about in piles all over the living room floor, the door bell sounds.
I ran to the front door to find my choir director covered in snow and shivering.
He'd made his way to our neck of the woods not knowing if the holy day Mass would go forward...and since we've been getting snow all day long with nothing shoveled, carved the first pathway up our walk covered in snow.
What would happen over the next 3-4 hours simply amazing --mainly because I did not have to work. I would not have been able to get to work had I been scheduled. Our neighborhood is always the last cleared and our plow guy no where to be found.
What made the next chapter so much fun is not having to stress about getting anywhere.
I got our choir director warm, dry clothes, some hot tea, and we proceeded to call every choir member telling them not to come to our holy day service. The roads impassable and nothing had been shoveled at the church. No one can walk up to the church entrance. It will be interesting to see who shows up, if anyone, especially those die hard parishioners.
Then Matt and I, shovels in hand, proceeded to carve a path from my house around the neighborhood hitting the church rectory, the church parking lot, and more importantly, trying to clear a small path for anyone who may show up for Mass.
I have to tell you, not having a deadline or needing to shovel out of my driveway to get somewhere made all the difference in the world erasing all of the pressure.
We finally made a path and searched high and low for salt.
We then attempted to find and start up the snow blower. What a hoot. I admit I had no idea what I was doing. Thank goodness Matt knew. After overcoming a few hurdles learning the snow blower, he eventually made it all work and we were good to go buzzing around the neighborhood.
I even put a plea on fb asking for anyone with working snow blowers, shovels or plows to head our way since the plow guy was MIA and a few others who normally clear the area had not arrived yet caught in the big snow.....
A December miracle because I was not even cold. Maybe the adrenaline kept me warm and toasty...
Finally, around 9pm, we knocked off having done as much as we could. I got in the house just in time for one of my all time favorite Christmas movies, sipping a delicious hot chocolate with mini marshmallows.
I never realized shoveling snow and being home bound would me 2 of the highlights of my vacation, but so far they are! What a wonderful chunk of time off! Thank you Jesus!
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