A Little Change in Plans

First, a report on Handel's Messiah.  Loved it.  Had fab seats in Centenary UMC (photo, left), where the Winston-Salem Symphony and Messiah Festival Chorus, under the direction of the lively Robert Moody, gave their all to give us a stirring performance of the classic. 

Mr. T and I (photo to right, taken in front of the Chrismon Tree at Centenary UMC) were joined for the evening by N/M/E and her BFF AW (photo below, right).  Always a treat! (Not sure who that lady is behind N/M/E...we were waiting in the narthex for the doors to the sanctuary to open.  Lots of folks with us.

So...about those plans we had...

We were planning on spending Christmas in L'ville this year.  Packing up two cars for the trip.  Dogs + presents + luggage + wheelchair & walker + cooler with the Christmas ham and other goodies = TWO CARS. Looking forward to Family Christmas with my brothers and SIL's at Missy M's house on the 19th.  That's the reason I had "only" put up the Sheep Tree...not a "real" tree...here at home in HPNC.  Hadn't even hung our stockings because we weren't going to be here for the Big Day.

Until...

Thursday morning, I went up in the attic to find a couple of boxes of "new" glass ornaments to take for our Family Christmas activity.  Missy M had planned that we would make ornaments, so I had volunteered that I thought I had some glass ornaments for one of the projects she had in mind:  "Swirl-painted" ornaments, where you pour acrylic paint into glass ornaments, swirl it around inside, then let it drain out.  Gorgeous. Anyway, I thought they were in one of the Christmas storage boxes that we hadn't even opened since the move (we weren't going to be here, remember?).  Big plans.  Boxes.  Bad back.  You know where this story is going, don't you?

Fortunately, after being brought to my knees by the figurative/proverbial 2 x 4 in the small of my back (ask anyone with a bad back what an episode feels like, invariably that person will describe it as being "hit with something heavy"...a 2 x 4, a sledgehammer, whatever...), I retired (with much help down the stairs from Mr. T, who was working in his home office on Floor #2 here at Maison de l'Lunn-Adsits...as luck would have it) to my side of the bed with the hot water bottle and a large bottle of muscle relaxers...Zanaflex, marvelous stuff.  Say goodnight, Patricia.

Thursday and Friday just a blur of pain and pain killers. Saturday, a little move movement without as much pain...making progress.  Sunday...a bit better still.  Today...up and about, albeit a bit slower and stiffer than usual.  Will try to stay quiet...do a little knitting, which Mr. T observed was the problem all along:  I was "sick" because he hadn't seen any needles or yarn in my hands in a few days.  I'll do all I can to fix that!

Still, we had to make the decision to cancel our Christmas trip North, and ask Missy M if she could head South instead.  Couldn't envision sitting in a car seat for an 8-hour drive, much less driving for that great distance. Good fortune continues to shine:  she'll be here today, roads permitting.

You see, while I was sleeping, we got nearly 3" of snow here in the Piedmont, with up to 15" reported in the higher mountain areas (between here and there).  It's been beautiful, as you can tell from the pictures.  Mr. T made sure that the bird feeders were filled, so the birds and the squirrels were happy to belly up to the buffet.

Today is supposed to be in the 40's, so we should get more melting, especially on the roads. Still, it would be pretty if it would hang around 'til Thursday, don't you think?