I saw what he's talking about up close today - made the mistake of going to Bloor Street to look for a small gift, some Body Shop cream that works on Eli's very dry skin. Walked up and down, only to discover the shop isn't there any more, it has vanished. Looked at various stores as I walked - jammed. Went into Indigo to buy a last minute book - they were lined up 20 deep at the cash. At least they're buying books. But I went home. Insane, it's insane out there.
My son is home, his first days off in months - he'll spend most of the next two days lying on the sofa watching TV, eating or sleeping, anything not to have to smile and be nice to people, since he does that for a living. Don't get me wrong, he's nice to us, but he's mostly flaked out. It is very good to see him, flaked out or not.
I have ended up - how did this happen? - being one of the producers of the annual Christmas pageant at Riverdale Farm yet again this year. My friends and I produced it for nine years and handed it over in exhaustion to others. This year I offered to help a bit, and the woman who took over from me called today to say her back has gone out and she can't make it, could I do it? Now I have lists and calls to make - cast, timing, scripts. At 7 tomorrow, hundreds of people - maybe 400 - will be at the farm to sing Christmas carols and watch shepherds, innkeeper and wife, wise men and angels lead us to the couple sitting in the straw in the barn with their baby, surrounded by the Farm's sheep, goats, cows and horses. Every year, it's a crapshoot, all over the map, but so charming and hokey, so completely community that it works. I hope it does this year too.
It'll be Eli's first pageant.
I wish I could be there. A special place, I know, from previous visits. And at this time of year -- well, you can't lose. Anyone who takes the time to go there can't lose. The sweet smelling horses, the colourful hens, the goats, sheep. Man, if my kids still lived in Toronto and we were staying at the Banting House on Homewood, I'd be helping and we'd be in the front row.
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ReplyDeleteTheresa, it's raining, supposed to rain all day, and i've just heard from one of the other producers that the baby is sick, might not be there. One year the baby turned out to be allergic to hay and had to leave. But at least it's not freezing cold. Always an adventure. A story. I'll do anything for a story! No, it's very beautiful, even for this half-Jewish atheist, to sing carols with my neighbours and celebrate new life. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
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