Christmas Bells

"I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!"

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Things to do on a December Day When There is No Water

• Check all the faucets in the house.


• Bang a bit on the pipes.


• Go out the front door and check up and down the street to see if you are the only one without water.


• Speculate with the neighbors about how long it might be until the water is back on again.


• Collect all the bottled water from all around the house.


• Make certain there is water in the expensive bottled water dispenser — and an extra 5 gallon bottle — just in case...


• Count the small bottles of water.


• Send husband and daughter into town to get things to eat that don’t require water to cook, prepare or eat them.


• Think about a nice whirlpool bath.


• Spend a lot of time searching for a place that accepts dogs, cats and refugees from a broken water main.


• Itch my head and search the internet for dry shampoo.


• Look for a net-flix video to watch that doesn’t have ocean, lake or stream scenes.


• Find our large bottle of hand sanitizer.


• Collect paper towel and set them out in strategic places.


• Search all the closets, drawers, shelves, picnic basket and boxes for "Wet Ones" hand wipes - set them out also.


• Dream of bubbles, fragrant oil and warm water surging up around my shoulders from a whirlpool.


• Discover that the lettuce wasn’t pre-washed.


• Make sandwiches without lettuce.


• Decide that I abhor the scent of hand sanitizer.


• Discover that hand sanitizer comes off when I hold a sandwich and its taste is even worse than its smell.


• Listen to the sound of the back hoe digging a trench - searching for a broken pipe.


• Collect buckets, empty water bottles and pans so they can be filled with water from a working faucet down the road.


• Watch the long rows of dirt build along the trench next to the back hoe.


• Welcome with relief the coming of bedtime.


• Dream of a whirlpool of warm water splashing all around me.....