White Christmas After All

It was cloudy and cool when I awoke this morning. I finished out my book copy of A Christmas Carol, then had breakfast and did some crocheting. Ran The Bishop's Wife as I worked. In this 1947 comedy-drama, a young bishop (David Niven) wants to persuade a greedy old woman (Gladys Cooper) to build an elaborate cathedral...but he's spending so much time worrying about his project, he's neglecting his older, shabbier parish, his daughter, and his lovely wife Julia (Loretta Young). An angel named Dudley (Cary Grant) comes to Earth to show the bishop what he's missing. Things get complicated when Dudley falls for the charming Julia, and the bishop starts questioning how he can win his wife from a heavenly deity.

A sweet story, remade as The Preacher's Wife with Denzel Washington as Dudley and the late Whitney Houston as Julia in 1996. Cary Grant is a great angel - check out his quick method of decorating Christmas trees!

Rose arrived quickly while The Bishop's Wife was on to pick up the presents for the family. She was pretty early, around 9. She apparently had a lot to do before they went down to Cape May County. She always does on Christmas Eve.

I also opened another present from Linda and James Young early in the morning. They gave me a Dear America young adult novel, this one set during the Great Depression. Christmas After All is the story of Minnie Swift, whose family has been hit hard by the Depression and is facing a bare holiday. Linda said that it's one of her favorites, and I'm looking forward to reading it. (I've never seen this one around, not even at the Haddon Township Library.)

Switched to two classic holiday animated specials as I started to get ready for work. In A Garfield Christmas Special, the famous fat cat finds himself at Jon's family's farm for the holidays. While Jon and his brother Doc Boy celebrate the season with stories about Binky the Clown, Garfield finds a friend in tough-minded Grandma. Grandma's missing her late husband, but Garfield's late-night discovery may make her holiday a little merrier.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas concerns the title character and his dog Max as they try to swipe the holiday presents and decorations from the unsuspecting citizens of Whoville. But even the worst intentions of a Grinch can't stop the holiday spirit. As the Grinch learns, "maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas perhaps, means a little bit more."

Went to work shortly after the Grinch ended. Much to my surprise, it was on-and-off busy all day. The lines sometimes got long, but never that unmanageable. It was worse last night! Of course, we had plenty of help, too. Almost everyone in the store worked long hours today. People were generally in a good mood, but there were some annoying folks, like the lady who insisted on ringing up each of her 20 gift cards separately, holding up a long line.

A couple of employees had to stay even after the store closed. There were things that needed to be shelved, magazines that needed to be organized, and cold items that needed to be returned. As soon as the clock hit 6:25, I signed out, grabbed my bike and jacket and a few things I picked up during my second break, and hurried out.

Much to my surprise, I walked into a white world. No wonder it slowed down a bit later. A soft, glittering snowfall met my eyes. The streets were just wet, but the grass was dusted with white powder. Alas, it started to change over to rain, even as I rode home. It was just rain by the time I'd changed into a regular shirt and snow boots (just in case), grabbed Jodie's pudding pie and a cookie present for a friend, and headed out to Dad's party.

Dad and Jodie's Christmas Eve party wasn't huge. It was mainly Mark, Vanessa, Jessa, and some of Dad and Jodie's friends and neighbors. I said "hi" to my old friend Erica and gave her the cookies for her and her mother. Jessa and I got an invitation to Christmas dinner tomorrow from Mark and Vanessa. We both happily accepted. Neither of us had eaten over there in a few years, and we had fun the years we did it. I sat in front of the roaring fireplace with Dad, sniffing the balsam potpourri and learning the secrets of how to keep a fire going. A friend of Dad's who was going home anyway finally dropped me off at my apartment after the party.

I'm still disappointed that I couldn't go down to Cape May County, but otherwise, things seem to be going fairly well. At any rate, from all of us to all of you, have a wonderful Christmas and the merriest of holiday seasons!