Warming Up - Exercise 12

White Christmas

 This Christmas is turning out to be something very unlike what I imagined for this year. Alex and I had just moved to San Diego in August, so I was looking forward to a green Christmas. I lived in California before, 40 years ago, so I already knew that grass is green in the winter and brown in the summer - a reversal of what is customary in Minnesota. But here I am, back in Minnesota for a white Christmas.

Right now I am sitting in my sister-in-law's living room. The two dogs, Max and Kirby, are settled down, as if I weren't here. Scruffy the cat is nestled down under the Christmas tree - a place he prefers but couldn't get to while the presents were still there. We followed the Minnesota tradition of opening all the presents on Christmas Eve, giving Scruffy the best present ever - his resting spot under the tree. Lily, the other cat, has never warmed up to me, so she is probably in some soft place enjoying some of the 20 hours per day that cats spend sleeping.

So it looks like Christmas both inside and out. But in addition to the joy of Christmas, my family is waiting for news of a Christmas miracle. My baby brother's only grandson, Cole, is in the hospital, seriously ill. The first diagnosis was that his organ failures had gone too far for there to be any hope. The family was left with only the ability to wait, and to pray. Then yesterday afternoon, a small dose of good news came when the doctors announced that Cole's blood pressure had gone up enough for there to be some hope. Cole is a fighter, so while the doctors aren't expressing optimism yet, there seems to be hope that Cole will have some time for the doctors to try to counter the organ failure. We have only prayers, hope, and time to wait.

I didn't go to church with my sister-in-law and her family. I must have known I needed to be at home for my sister's call. Cole has taken a turn for the worse, so my brother Bruce and his wife Kathy are heading back to the hospital.

This isn't the way I had expected to spend Christmas. But if there is a silver lining in any of this, it is that we are all focusing on the message of Christmas and the hope that God will grant a miracle on this most precious day for our most precious angel.