Holly, Merry Times

It's been a little over a week since our state had A Perfect Storm, according to the weather reporters. Lots of rain, high winds, and power outages throughout the metro area. In fact our long-term summer intern, Princeton (now home for the Christmas holiday break), informed us that it took five days to restore power to his house. Critter had a second choir concert that evening over at the high school and had dressed up for the event only to have the concert cancelled a half-hour before she needed to be there.

The radio and TV began reporting power outages and highway closures due to fallen trees and car accidents. The rest of the evening CrafterKat and I finished up our holiday decorating. It was a But First evening.

First we had to separate out the boxes that we weren't going to use.
Then pile the boxes that needed to go upstairs.
Then climb into the attic and re-organize the boxes so the Christmas boxes are on the west side.
Only to discover the plywood panels hadn't been replaced after the kitchen wiring was done.
Redistribute the pink insulation into each bay.
Then push boxes out of the way to grab the plywood panels.
Wedge plywood panels into place and discover that one doesn't fit that spot.
Find an electrical outlet for the drill.
Pray that the power doesn't go out.
Perform acrobatic maneuvers to drill the plywood in without falling through the drywall into the kitchen below.
Perform human chain to carry boxes up the stairs and into a spot on the west side of the house.

We all clambered down and got into pajamas. CrafterKat, now coming down with a cold, scooped up her sleep gear to recover in the Craft Room. Critter brushed her teeth and began singing Christmas songs, "Have a holly, merry Christmas..."

CrafterKat stopped on the stairs. "Holly, jolly Christmas," she corrected.

Critter gave an annoyed sigh and almost stamped her foot in frustration. "If the English can say 'Happy Christmas' then I can say 'Holly, Merry Christmas'! It's just wrong!"

We chuckled, said our goodnights, and went to bed. Five minutes later the lights went out, the power returning a few short minutes later. Critter was back at my door the instant the lights returned. "The lights went out."

"Yes, but the power came back on." The Fuzzy Slug settled down across my legs, oblivious to the outage. I continued in a calm, unconcerned manner, "It may go out again, or it may not."

Critter remained in the hallway, unconvinced.

I chuckled to myself. "Do you want to sleep with me?"

"YES!" She grabbed her quilt, pillow and stuffie and leapt into bed, wrapping herself up in the blankets. I wished her goodnight after she was settled. "Goodnight, JewelGeek. And thanks for the Slumber Party!"