Little Christmas Eve

Somewhere I have a booklet about Advent Celebrations and it says that in Sweden, I think, there's a custom of celebrating Dec. 23 as Little Christmas Eve. On that night the children who "just can't wait" get to open one present, and a special meal is served. We celebrated Little Christmas Eve watching ice turn to rain, about three-quarters of an inch worth, and escaping the gloom of a cloudy day (we even had thunder around noon) by vacuuming the upstairs (Norm) and baking Christmas cookies (me.) The activity put us in better spirits. Tomorrow night we will attend the Christmas Eve Candlelight service at our church; it's supposed to be in the upper 30s and dry for a change!

Part of our welcome display on the porch at this season involves these obviously silk poinsettias (real ones could not have survived the 5-degree night we had on Monday!) and some artificial pine roping and the cream can that Norm dug up on the old Williams homestead in Western Kansas some 20 years or longer ago, on one of those memorable drives across the prairie we took with Norm's dad. It has a couple of holes in it that Leslie said came from Norm's uncle Morrison using it for target practice. Anyway, it frequently holds a seasonal bouquet and adds a little interest to the front porch.