It's not often I get to do my Christmas Eve (or Christmas day) walk in the snow. In fact, I can't remember a time I ever have, although I've only been walking for ten years. The streets were fairly quiet, as I anticipated, but several things gave me pause.
The line at Sallie Belle's on Grace Street was a dozen deep by 9:30 and they don't even open until 10. They close at 3, and I'm almost tempted to wander by in the 2:00 hour just to see the crazed last-minute customers. I have to assume that their traditional baked goods must be essential to some people's holiday festivities.
Although the south-facing streets are in decent condition to walk, the north-facing ones are still quite covered in snow. I saw a large cactus plant, maybe two feet high sticking out of a snow mound. All I could see were the tips of the cactus leaves and needles with a crust of snow. Did Mother Nature intend for this to happen? I also got a smile out of a "Keep Off the Grass" sign nearly covered in snow. If there's grass underneath, it was nowhere in sight.
Unfortunately I had to go to Kroger, where pandemonium reigned. A stranger said to me, "I can't believe we were stupid enough to leave this for today!" I'm with you on that, honey; what was I thinking? The aisles were a traffic jam of people, many of them clearly not pros at grocery shopping and impeding the progress of the rest of us. Lots of customers wore Santa hats and everyone was unusually friendly and pleasant, though, so while it was challenging to get in and out, there was a certain festive air to it all.
I already know what a difficult holiday this is going to be, given the hole in my life, so I'm not expecting a great one. I'm just hoping not to dissolve into a complete maudlin mess while making my way through the rest of it.
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