The Christmas Morgue

     I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this post, so hold on to your seats. I had to remind myself that this is Christmastime, not Easter. The Easter story does have a brief morgue-like aspect to it when Jesus lay in his tomb for three days. We know how that story ends - hallelujah! The greatest and most significant miracle to ever occur in all of time happened when Jesus rose from the dead, conquered sin and death, and defeated Satan. Easter is a holiday we should celebrate everyday because EVERYDAY the implications of Christ's resurrection should impact our lives with the joy, peace, and strength we possess to please God and live profoundly satisfying and hopeful lives.
     But, back to my hopefully-not-too morbid post. So, it started like this: a restful Thanksgiving weekend prompted Tim to get all the Christmas decorations out and decorate everything, everywhere, hallelujah and amen. "Christmas is on!" Tim really fancies Christmas decorations which I think is just too cute. He got up at 4 am one post-Christmas morning to go to Stats' After Christmas Sale and came home with a fabulous, huge, colorful wreath that proudly hangs above our fireplace as of November 27th. Last year, when my Dad was doing some downsizing, we inherited his front yard nativity scene of light -up plastic figures. This marvelous set comes with Mary, Joseph, and Jesus (of course!), 8 angels, 3 wise men, a shepherd boy with two sheep, and a cow. On the bottom of each figure is a hole to put a light and sand to weight it down and keep it upright.
     There was only one wee problem. After Tim worked with great, intense Christmas cheer all afternoon long, I came home that evening to see what looked like dead bodies lying in the front yard with some twinkling lights hanging from the house. Huh? I thought. I figured they were the nativity scene characters unlit and laying down on the grass, but it looked creepy. Even Camille mentioned this same observation a couple of days later. Tim apparently got every figurine weighted down with sand, but crookedly, so most of them fell down. And then as he placed all the lights in the figures and turned the switch on POP! SNAP! The whole light feature apparently shorted out and left the Holy Family with their priceless newborn in the dark, lying down for dead.
The grisly scene in my front yard

   The one problem with this whole scenario is that Tim has been working really long hours this past month and in December he's working even longer ours. He leaves home around 6:20 am and doesn't come home till around 7 or 8 pm most nights. He will be working Saturday mornings, too. It's not unusual to find him in bed around 8:30 pm snoring loudly from sheer exhaustion. (Have I ever mentioned how grateful I am to have such a hardworking, honorable husband? He is so awesome!) Knowing this, Tim put all the decorations up right after Thanksgiving. I'm not sure when he'll get back to figuring out this light and balance situation. I can try to remedy the weight issue and try to get the Holy Family with their entourage upright. If I can't, I suppose I could drag the whole assemblage down to the basement or pray for a miracle. Maybe this will be like Easter after all; God will miraculously resurrect the Holy Family! And in my front yard of all places!
     In the meantime, I better get out there and figure out what I can do. I want a cheery, happy Christmas scene in my front yard - nothing resembling death in anyway. That wouldn't be very neighborly, would it?

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