In retrospect, sneakers would have been a better choice, given all the running around I did. But I enjoyed wearing them, nevertheless. The services were beautiful (thanks to my patient, long-suffering husband) and, like I do every year, I cried when we lit the candles and sang "Silent Night". I'm so predictable.
I have a story to tell, but it won't make sense without a flashback to this time last year. It was prior to my diagnosis and my doctors were still casting around in the dark trying to find a solution. (Get it? "Casting"? I crack myself up.) I got my cast off on December 23, only to find my foot wasn't any better after six weeks of total immobilization so I had to go back into a boot (a medical boot, not a fun boot) and the dreaded knee walker. For this and several other reasons, we had to cancel our yearly post-Christmas getaway. It was not a happy time. We decided we should at least have a nice Christmas Eve dinner and made reservations at a local Italian restaurant, one of the few places,that was open Christmas Eve.
Big mistake. It was a comedy of errors. More like a tragedy of errors, actually. They called just as I was going into rehearsal for the first service to ask us to move up our reservation time because they had decided to close early. We moved it up as early as we could and still ensure we could get there n time after the last service. Despite racing to get there, the doors were locked when we arrived. We finally got someone to let us in, but as it turned out, it would have been better if we hadn't. They were out of the special dish they had advertised, which is what had enticed us to go in the first place. The waiter completely abandoned us and the busboy apologetically took over (and was the one bright spot in the evening). As we left the restaurant, we witnessed our waiter and the bartender having a screaming, cursing argument over how to split the tips from the evening. Merry Christmas.
Fast forward to yesterday. After last year's experience, we had decided to abandon the idea of eating out, but then we learned one of our favorite places was going to be open Christmas Eve. We were skeptical, but decided to give it a shot and made reservations. The experience could not have been any more different than the previous year's. The restaurant had their A-team on staff and they all seemed genuinely glad to be there. After all the work we'd done, we were in no mood to make decisions, so we asked the waiter to just bring out some of his favorite foods. And fortunately for us, he had excellent taste. The sommelier, with whom we've developed a relationship over the last two years, picked a special wine for us that was a real treat. They also brought us several complimentary treats, of both the solid and liquid variety. The evening ended with hugs all around and it felt like home. If home were full of good chefs and had an impressive wine selection. Which, now that I think about it, is actually not a bad description of home. What a great way to end a really long day. As the spouse of someone who has to work on Christmas Eve, I wish no one had to, but I sure appreciated the great attitudes of the professionals who did work. I hope they all got some well-deserved rest today.
I woke up really early again this morning, which is not surprising, given that I had not packed anything for our trip and we had an eight-hour drive ahead of us. I've gone into exhaustive detail about my packing issues previously, so I won't repeat them. Just know that eventually we got out the door and I'm fairly certain I have at least the essentials. We got to the hotel in time for dinner and a drink before collapsing. In contrast with our experience last night, the B-team was on duty today at the hotel and restaurant, but they were certainly earnest. And talkative. We really got to know everyone - one of the perks of staying in a deserted hotel over a major holiday.
Another five hour drive tomorrow and then we'll stay put for a few days. I had a couple of unpleasant moments with my foot yesterday, but today was much better. I guess sitting in a car for eight hours in comfortable sneakers didn't hurt. Hoping my luck holds out tomorrow.
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