Wednesday 24 December 2008

Christmas Eve

overcast, snow in am, then light rain

Happy Christmas Eve! We have tortiere about to go in the oven. The potatoes are mashed. Jim and Sharon are arriving in an hour or so. The computer has been turned off (laptop) and moved from in front of the fireplace.

Oddly, a bit of a wrench to do that. I was within 30 pages of finishing this edit of The Brutal Telling - but getting tired. And, as you can imagine, these last chapters are the most complex so I don't want to be confused or tired or hurrying.

Maggie bouncing around already. We were a little worried yesterday when she didn't want her banana - which is her gummi bears...but by last night she was gobbling them.

Michael collected Trudy from Pat and Tony's place...they'd agreed to take her so we could concentrate on Maggie. Trudy seemed impressed with the 'air' where a leg once was, sniffed a big then got on with her puppy life. Maggie no longer seems quite as bewildered, though she does seem a little down. I expect that's natural.

We hope you have a really lovely Christmas. last year Michael and I spent it on our own, just the two of us. And it was so peaceful...we loved it. But this year we decided to invite friends for dinner...actually we eat around 2pm. Which means - we did the math earlier - the turkey needs to go in at 6am.

We'll be up with all the neighborhood 8 year olds. Thought about asking Tony to come up and put the turkey in but we think that would be the end of the friendship. I once called Pat (who does some cleaning for us) to tell her we were having guests and ask if she'd mind coming by to clean. I left a message on her machine only to get a call an hour later from a friend, Liz, to say if we really needed her to clean she'd do it, but she was a little confused.

Seems I'd called the wrong number, and had inadvertently asked Liz to clean our home, for a dinner party she wasn't invited to! Oh dear.

Hope you enjoy whatever Christmas you've been given this year. Quiet, hectic. Alone, filled with people. And hope you feel peace and contentment. Hope we do too!

6 comments:

frouch said...

Merry Christmas to you, Michael and your puppies too!

We'll have a very simple christmas Eve, partly at my sister's place, and then back here, with our daughter and our part-time cat, who spend all the winter with us, because he doesn't appreciate the warm weather where is owner's live half ot the year...

So it will be calm, comfy, with little presents but tons of love.

Thanks again for writing almost everyday on your blog, and allowing me and many others to share you life, and enjoy you're so wonderful way of writing...

Louise XXX

Anonymous said...

Hi Louise - just wanted to wish you, Michael, Maggie and Trudy a most wonderful Christmas. So glad to hear that she is doing well. Pets make our lives so much better - they are such gifts to us all. I do hope that anyone out there that doesn't have a dog or a cat thinks about adopting from a shelter. You will be amazed at the joy an animal will bring to your lives. Merry Christmas from Connecticut,
Donna

Hilary MacLeod said...

Have been out of the loop travelling over the holidays. Hitchhiking now on wireless, thrilled to hear of Maggie's progress. Hope she'll be back at work today -- in her support role, cleaning the Christmas dishes.

Merry Christmas to you,Michael, Maggie and Trudy, your family and extended family of friends -- looking forward to another year of following your blog.

A toast to all three-legged friends...

Hilary

Anonymous said...

Hi Louise,
Merry Christmas to you, Maggie and Trudy. Hope you have a wonderful dinner party.
Best wishes,
Rebecca Rose

Anonymous said...

Hi Louise,
Meant to wish you, Michael, Maggie and Trudy a Merry Christmas. Michael's name must have erased....
Glad you had a great day.
Rebecca Rose

Louise Penny Author said...

DEar all,

Thank you so much for your wishes - and they all came true. A quiet, lovely Christmas. And yes, Maggie was back doing her chorses at the dishwasher...as we've all commented, in this scary economic time when we don't know what's happening with jobs, mortgages, retirement funds - there is a huge blessing...re-discovering what really matters. I know Michael and I would be genuninely happy in a tiny apartment somewhere. No frills, no car. No vacations. All those are great - and we've enjoyed them as you know - but far from necessary. and, I've come to wonder, if all those activities and all those things build a wall between us and what's really valuable.

Not unique thoughts - but it sure feels good to know that they're true for us, and I can see by your comments, for you too.

It's very freeing, isn't it?

Here's to a 2009 - spent free.

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