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The middle of November found Mary sewing yet more costumes for the Pilgrim festival which both of the older children were in, along with little Beth, the littlest pilgrim.   Thanksgiving Day was not as peaceful as Mary would have liked it to be, the pumpkin mold directions must have gotten lost in the wrapping paper, the stuffing was dry and she couldn’t find the sheaves of wheat taper candles amongst all the glossy ads for the fast approaching Christmas season......and what WAS she going to get George this Christmas anyway, was her thought as she looked for the whipped topping to put on the pumpkin pie. During her musings, she realized she really was missing her time with the church ministries, and promised herself that she would call the church as soon as Christmas was over and take her Sunday School class back.   But right now, it was getting these holiday things organized for her family that really mattered.

The day AFTER Thanksgiving George volunteered to watch little Beth while the other two children played out in the snow, so Mary could get up early and be at the stores at 7:00 am when the doors opened.   She knew it would be the ONLY chance to get that video game Al wanted and Sophie wanted that doll set too.   She set the alarm for 5:30 am, left the house at 6:00am, and when she got to the mall, found a line of people that almost reached around the entire place. 

After standing in line for an hour, she was nearly crushed as she entered the toy store, to only discover both the video game and doll set sold out.......with no rain checks available.....Mary spent the rest of the day scouting the huge 3 story mall for alternate gifts, but everything was so picked over, she finally gave up, went home, threw a frozen pizza in the oven, drew a hot bath for her aching feet, and sat in the tub and cried.......She had no idea why she was crying, but this feeling had been creeping up on her for months, and she felt if she didn’t let out some of the frustration she was feeling, she would explode.   George put the kids to bed that night as Mary crawled into bed, exhausted.   Still too tired by Saturday night, they decided to skip services the next morning and Mary slept right through the alarm clock.

The entire month of December was one disappointment after another.   The second week, the impossible happened, George was laid off from his job at the local factory due to foreign price gouging, which left him home during the day, Mary’s time to get things accomplished for the coming Christmas season. Everything got behind.   George called the pastor and spoke to him on the phone and the church added them to the prayer list.   Pastor tried to get them to agree to come to the Christmas program, but George was uncertain about making the commitment with Mary in her present state of mind and so busy with everything else.

They had to buy a tree, they needed new lights for the outside so they could WIN that light contest sponsored by the Chamber, relatives from Canada decided to visit this year, what would they give THEM.....how would they afford it?   Mary found herself spending more and more time in bed, just staring into space and crying, alternately, since George was home to mind the children.

Christmas came and went with Mary just barely there.   Oh, she put on a happy face for everyone, especially the relatives from Canada, but she just couldn’t stop this feeling of despair and gloom......WHAT was wrong with her???   Grateful for Christmas night, Mary crawled in to bed and vowed that next year would be different. Her last thought was they did not read the Christmas story from Luke 2 this year, like they did every year.   What in the world was happening to her world?

Two days after Christmas, a monster snowstorm dumped 2 feet of snow on the city where George and Mary lived.   The children were already bored with their new toys, and Mary was disappointed that they did not appreciate all her extra efforts of decorating and baking.   It seemed they just weren’t satisfied with ANYTHING.   The temperature dropped to below zero right after the storm, preventing anyone from playing in all that lovely snow, and then Sophie came down with the flu, which of course was passed on to everyone else in the house, that seemed to get smaller and smaller each day.   School began a week later than normal due to the weather after the winter break and Al ran away from home for a short period of time.

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