I didn’t post anything on Christmas day.  My schedule was tight and I chose to sleep-in anyway, –a Christmas present to myself.  Today I have the luxury of looking back at Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Do they not belong together?  I went for a run in the neighborhood on Christmas eve.  I must act to improve my fitness, and that run was a first step.  Running in my neighborhood is one way to appreciate the small vignettes of beauty in Mundelein.

Took this photo while stopping in at Lauretta’s Italian Bake Shop and Cafe.  It is a snowman elf-on-the-shelf.  Elf on the shelf is a fine Christmas fairy tale to enthrall younger children.  Learn about the story HERE

Christmas day is always early to rise with food and gifts to load into the car.  Laura and I, Laurie and Sonia traveled about an hour to Wheaton where the extended family met for a day of feasting with lots of presents opened by the three grand children.

We had a guest at our house who is staying over for a few days.  He did not choose to make the trip to Wheaton with us.  Einstein is one of the three Wise Men and is quite elderly.  He had already traveled from afar.  So Einstein stayed behind for a quiet day at the house to rest up.  The days before Christmas are stressful for wise men, following the star on the back of a camel.  Einstein is pictured here seeing us off.

Christmas day was celebrated by enjoying the presence of family members for an extended period of time, and an abundance of good food.  The Christmas ham was named Hamilton and was much appreciated.  I took this photo of a bright red strawberry salad.  Very tasty!

As you can imagine the opening of presents by the three grand children was the main event.  The wrapping paper flew!  In the photo mom lends a hand.  I almost wish that I could be a kid again, just for one day.  The innocence, the joy at exploring a new toy!  Much later in life I am reminded that when work is genuinely interesting, as adults we lose ourselves again in “play.”  We connect with the child that always remains within us.

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Christmas time is a respite within the ordinary time of our lives.  Human nature, and human endeavor is a mixture of the sublime and abject foolishness.  While we celebrated our families our President was alone, marinating in his own self-pity in the White House.  He will have his five billion dollar wall or else we will suffer a indefinite partial shut down of our government.  Wall Streets “gets it” though.  The Standard and Poors 500 stock index neared bear-market territory on Monday,  closing on a 20% decline from it’s high.  Ahab is master of the ship and he is bound to have his “great white whale.”

Hang on!