Our Christmas Tree came down last night.

Actually, that’s inaccurate. It did not come down last night; I was pulling lights off it until after four this morning, and the bare tree itself, with bits of tinsel still clinging to it, did not come off the stand and leave the house until late this afternoon. However, the bulk of the work was done in the overnight stretch, keeping me awake until after the boys were both bused this morning.

I’ve a number of other things on my plate today, but let’s tackle them one at a time.

–M. J. Young

Rehearsal did not go quite as well as hoped yesterday, but it did go well. The big glitch was that Baxter decided he was not well enough to attend after I had spoken with him; I wound up running out at the last minute, and Brittany went to pick him up but couldn’t find his place, and when she called him he said nevermind, he was going to try to get better by sleeping instead of practicing. Meanwhile, Adam ducked out somewhere, apparently unaware that we were having rehearsal, and so arrived near the end of the available time. On the positive side, though, Brittany has nearly got the vocals down on three songs, one of them the hardest she will have to sing, and she’s started work on a fourth on which she faces some very challenging guitar work but no vocals. Collision is coming together.

Meanwhile, I did deliver the Christmas Tree to my mother-in-law this evening. It happens that I was volunteered to pick up one son’s girlfriend to bring her here, while another son was picking up his own girlfriend and going to a gathering of summer co-workers elsewhere. I had to rush to get my grocery shopping in before departing on this trek, and I still have some things requiring my attention before bed, but I’m hopeful that I can get everything done and acquire a few hours of sleep before daybreak.

I’ve discussed a few projects with my son, but there’s no reportable progress from that (although he had some good ideas), so I’m going to end here and get the other things done.

–M. J. Young

My mother-in-law’s Christmas Tree arrived today, from a company that promised delivery before Christmas and now is apologizing with embarrassment that it did not ship until yesterday. They have refunded the shipping charges, but we will keep the tree; it should survive to be planted in one yard or another at some point, I expect, and it was well discounted–and besides, my mother-in-law will be much happier to have a tree late than not at all.

My musicians are coming. Collision rehearses this afternoon. I spoke with Baxter moments ago, who works nights and is groggily preparing himself for the outside world of the day, and Brittany promised last week that she would be here this week, so we’re good to go, or should be.

I also have the desperate need to buy some groceries; Christmas left us strapped for cash (it always does) and scraping the last of the food from the freezer, but some money has arrived, and there should be enough time to squeeze in a shopping trip after rehearsal if we make dinner a bit late.

Thus at the moment I have a brief space in which to attempt to accomplish a brief task, and the writing of this blog came to mind.

I found myself sitting in a diner awaiting a takeout order late last night, and so brought my Romans editing with me. I’ve passed the halfway point, but it’s still a long row to hoe before it will be ready for publication–and I am not at all certain whether I can reach the intended market. However, it’s worth the effort, I expect.

–M. J. Young