On happy holidays and feeling thankful...

When I checked the calendar and saw where I was scheduled to blog on Christmas Day, my first thought was, nah...ain't gonna happen. Then, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this would give me a chance to thank everyone--my fellow Quills and you, the readers--for the gift of your friendship. It's a friendship that isn't merely a holiday thing, but instead sustains me throughout the entire year.

This past couple of weeks reminded me of the importance of the online community--my email quit working. I felt like I'd been cast adrift from all of humanity--well, other than the folks in the real world who still occasionally pop in and out of my life. So much of my social life is through the Internet that it really did feel like being marooned somewhere. Of course, the email going belly up wasn't the only thing that happened. I honestly think I used up a year's worth of bad karma in December alone!

I transferred my Christmas money into my checking account, and the bank lost it. ALL my shopping funds, gone. Since I'd written a check to move the money from one bank to another, and neither bank was willing to promise me that even a "stop payment" on it might actually STOP THE PAYMENT (go figure?) I wasn't about to write another check and risk having the money taken out twice! Thank goodness I had the deposit slip as proof of the deposit, but it still took them almost two weeks to find the deposit and make it right.

Of course, this put a bit of a wrinkle into my Christmas shopping, as I wasn't comfortable spending funds until I had them, so there was a last minute rush to get everything done once the money magically appeared in my account. In the meantime, my email had quit and, unbeknown to me, my editor was trying to reach me (What? I'm BOUNCING?) and finally resorted to a phone call to request some material she needed NOW. More scrambling...but I honestly thought things were under control and I was ready to get into the Christmas spirit.

Then, while I was upstairs in my office, peacefully wrapping gifts, my husband shouted at me to call 911.

Trust me--when a normally unflappable male suddenly "flaps" and the smoke alarm suddenly goes off, you truly understand the expression "adrenaline rush!" I looked out my office door and over the balcony, directly at the stove pipe to the woodstove--it was glowing red hot from the fire rushing up the flue. Doug said he could see flames in the attic--not a good thing. I got on the phone and dialed. The dispatcher transferred me to the local CDF (California Department of Forestry) fire station, I gave the information and directions to the house and we waited. Doug had shut down the air vents and the fire, starved for oxygen, went out, but we were still concerned about the possibility of embers smoldering in the attic.

The firetrucks arrived and the firemen did their job, crawled up into the attic and checked for hot spots, made sure everything was cool and nothing left to combust, made their report and left. Doug and I sat here for a minute while our heart rates settled back to normal. He'd just cleaned the flue a few weeks earlier and we couldn't figure out what could have caused the fire.

As it turned out, he discovered that the brush he uses is a few feet too short to reach all the way to the stove, and the creosote had built up in the lower part of the flue. We'd had a 3.9 earthquake a few days earlier that really rattled the house, and it must have knocked some of that flammable stuff down into the firebox, where it ignited and set the rest of the crud on fire. It's now VERY clean, all the way from the box on top of the roof to the woodstove, but it was a good lesson in chimney cleaning. You have to get ALL of it.

I stopped by the fire station yesterday and left a donation in their "coffee fund" as a thank you to the wonderful guys who showed up and took care of everything, but I can't quit thinking of what could have happened that didn't. We'd been gone most of the morning, and the chimney fire could so easily have happened then, while we were away. Luckily we were both home and able to stop the fire before it got rolling.

So, our house didn't burn down, the Christmas check was found, the email works and all's right with my world, but this last week as a reminder of how quickly things can change, and how much we depend on our friends, our community and our family. Not a bad thing to be reminded of this time of year, when it's so easy to get caught up in the rush and bustle of shopping and the stress and worry about the details.

I hope each and every one of you has a moment of peace where you can take the time to think of all those good things in your life--small things, big things, special things and special people. Without channeling Mr. Rodgers, I want to say that you are all special to me. This day is special, this season, this end of one year and beginning of the next. It's a time for gentle endings and wonderful beginnings.

I wish you health and happiness and time to reflect, and if you have a moment, please share something you're thankful for this holiday season.

My best to all of you. Be safe and be well.
Kate