And to all a Good Night!

We have a Christmas countdown clock on our front porch which serves as a constant reminder of those precious hours, minutes and, yes, even seconds remaining until the big Ho, Ho, Ho--the illuminated message on the clock when our time has run out and the Big Day is finally here.  Each and every time I pulled out of or into the garage since the begining of December,  I checked that clock.  One fast glance was all it took for me to know how much time I had left to get everything done from presents, to a Christmas menu to a school party for which I was in charge. In brief, the whole gamut of things required to 'make the season merry and bright' as found on the many lists I had been making and revising since October.  Now as I sit here with everything on my lists done and accounted for, the countdown clock no longer instills fear because it no longer represents time speeding by but, instead, it represents those precious hours that lay ahead, the sweet anticipation of one of the most anticipated days of the year.  I am trying to take the time to relish those last hours as somehow the hours of Christmas morning don't feel their full sixty minutes with the gift opening frenzy at our house but then the wrapping paper is thrown away and soon thereafter the tree gets taken down and the countdown begins all over again.