Christmas Eve

Another heavy frost is covering the yard this morning. The basement wood heater went out completely over night. I thought I had filled it with enough wood to last. I was wrong. That's the first time it's gone out completely since it was installed on Saturday. I'm working on getting it going again now.

I'll be working this afternoon at the store. Last minute shoppers are frantically searching for meaningless gifts for their friends and family. Most of the Christmas items are gone. We still have some fresh cut trees left. I doubt we will sell any today. A few sad poinsettias remain too. There are about 100 Christmas cacti on one shelf. I didn't order them. The grower shipped them to us on a day when I was off. We're stuck with these things. Even at $1, we can't get rid of them.

After work, I'll drive to my parents' house. I'll get to bed around midnight, up again at 6 thanks to my nephew. I'll eat too much, open a few gifts, and drive back Christmas Day so I can be back at work on Saturday. Retail is hell. But it does pay the mortgage.

Here's to hoping everyone has a Merry Christmas. It's 27 degrees and clear. The first rays of sunlight are appearing among the trees out back. The nights are a minute shorter with each passing day. 85 days til Spring 2010.