so it's christmas eve.

all through the house, every single possible creature is stirring at about the rate of an atom in a hot gas. simon, the "auxiliary cat" (dad's term) is terrorizing kitty ("primary cat") by chasing him in wide laps through the living room, dining room and kitchen. dad and ray are conducting a high-decibel foosball match in the basement. donny is frantically trying to force himself to sleep (but failing...and you *know* he'll be wide awake by six). mom is playing santa claus. i'm...typing. that counts, right?

i just returned from christmas eve services with my family. their church here in st. cloud is very...new. contemporary architecture, contemporary music, poorly ungendered God pronouns, the whole works. there aren't even pews. however, there are three christmas trees and a profusion of extremely cute small children, and...you know, Jesus. i can't quite make christmas eve not important to me, no matter how hard i try or how much the world conspires to make the whole event seem tacky and overblown and not *about* anything. we were sitting in the back, and i watched a boy about my age, sporting a brand-new navy uniform and regulation buzzcut, for most of the service. he was making silly faces with the baby in front of him most of the time--except, occasionally he would notice what he was doing. you could almost see it cross his face: oh my Lord, i'm playing with a baby. in public. and liking it. and his big goofy grin would flash off, and he would sit up incredibly straight....and three minutes later he'd be back to playing peek-a-boo. hee.

what else...profoundly cool lunch today, at the fabulous k-bob cafe in princeton, minnesota, with a fluey (so he said, i couldn't tell) but lucid tim nelson. it was fun to hear all the rhodes-gossip from districts, and to mull over that whole experience a bit more. we also chatted a bit about trying to "fit back in" with your hometown/family/etc. after college. good stuff. then, back home for an afternoon of frantic cooking in preparation for church-people get-together this evening.

as for christmas tomorrow, well, i'm a little bit worried about how much stuff my family can afford now, and a little worried, in general, that people's concerns over what to give and what they'll get are messing up the holiday. i'm not about to go into some "jesus is the reason for the season," "christ back in christmas" rampage here, but...you know, i just wish i could hang out with my mom for a while instead of packing her off to target every morning so all the cousins' gift-amounts will come out balanced. i'd also like to say that's why i didn't get gifts for anyone...but it's basically just laziness. oh well.