Quiet Night, Holy Night

I can't believe another year is drawing to a close, and our Christmas celebrations are winding down.  We have had some lovely family times, and unexpected moments of reflections.

For instance, on Christmas Eve we were supposed to have our family Christmas dinner prior to church services.  The morning of the 24th we woke to find no power.  In fact, a very large section of mid-Michigan did not have power, though for some reason the center of town did!

Hoping for the best, we lit candles (since we have gotten our fabulous puppy we have been getting up earlier than usual) and lit the gas stove to make tea.  With the advent of the iPad and Kindle we could read for a while, while calling Consumers Power to try and get a handle on how long we might not have power.  And the day slowly moved forward.

It became apparent we would not have power back that day, and maybe for another day or two on top of that.  With an unexpectedly warm December, the reason for no power was not snow or ice, it was thunderstorms and wind, probably.  We still do not know for sure.  What were we going to do about our dinner?  And cleaning up for church?  Indeed...what would the Dowager do?!

Thankful for good friends, we did get showers taken care of in the afternoon, then decided we would postpone our dinner with the kids until we could properly heat food, and the house!  So....the quiet day continued!

With power at church, we had a lovely service, filled with music, readings and celebration.  Then home to the dark and quiet house.  Candle light again guided our evening.

Then, tucked under the double layer of quilts, we fell asleep and hoped that Christmas Day would include a gift of power.

And with 15 minutes left until Christmas morn, lights came on and I sat up in bed (apparently) and shouted "the lights are on!"  I honestly don't remember that...I just remember Daryl sitting up quickly and saying "What?  What? What?" in that voice that says he was sound asleep and had been rudely awakened.

And so we were  blessed with lights, and heat, and the ability to make morning coffee!  A lovely Christmas day...still quiet...but quite "normal."  I must say that though not having power was inconvenient, there was a certain amount of contemplative time that we don't always take.  And it was  very soothing; calming the soul.  Daryl may not agree, but I found it a bit refreshing.

Everyone gets presents at our house!

Kaycee enjoyed "helping" Meesha open her present.  Sigh....

And Christmas festivities still happened a few days later, when some of the family came over for brunch - well, actually, bringing brunch!  Kaycee enjoyed the company, too!

Addy and Cameron give a very willing puppy lots of attention.

Addy and Grandpa look at her new book, Salmon Princess.  We got each of the grandchildren books from local authors and illustrators when we were in Alaska this summer.

Emma made a delicious chocolate cake from her new recipe book.

Mandy, Cameron, me, Addy, Daryl and Emma let Kory take a photo, instead of being in one!

Now we look forward to the new year, and whatever it may bring.  Time sure flies!  It was just the year 2000!  Wasn't it?!