Something burning on an open stove....

I awoke this morning to the smell of smoked sausage cooking. There was only one problem: I was the only person awake at the time..... So where was the smell coming from?

Nothing quite evokes a mood of winter like the roar and hiss of a crackling fire -- discovering it in a water pot on your stove is NOT where you expect it!! We have a gas stove in our house upon which we put a tin of water (for a little extra humidity in the house). A few weeks ago, I had put some mulling spices in a cheesecloth in it for a special touch -- add a little spicy smell to the house. Apparently no one checked the water levels in it last night, and by this morning, the spices were burning, and the cheesecloth was black as tar.

This makes two mornings in a row in which my day has gotten off to a shotgun start -- where all my plans to ease into morning, to creep into my routine, have been thwarted. It's bad enough that the holiday season tends to occasionally Grinch me out... you know, realizing you STILL have things to buy and stuff to do and it's less than a week away. But two rude awakenings are just enough to send the already jangled and jingled nerve endings into a total frizz.......

And trying to find the spirituality present in the holiday season is so difficult, made even more so when you actually WORK for a church. A few weeks ago, on Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor made a remark about how those who seem to work hardest for Christmas are the ones who enjoy it least. He has a point.

Until next time....