In a context of having heat again, I'm not facing another night like the last one. I can relax and be more festive. That said, I do have the late shift to monitor things; Gary's solution for the hot water line was to hope for the best. My reaction to this wizardry of a solution is a callback to Shania Twain's That Don't Impress Me Much. I've got a couple of sinks that have shyly opened up, but the tub, well, the tub is going to take a LOT to woo over. And in the context of low water pressure from MLGW, I don't know if I've got the charm.

I'm fortunate that I was not among that half that got a lump of coal as an early Christmas present from MLGW. The cynical side of me really did expect to experience a rolling blackout as soon as the heater was resolved. But, hey, I musta landed on the nice list this year 'cause I was flush with power—my Christmas Eve for tonight's featured presentations: Christmas Vacation and Daddy's Home 2. Got my yearly tradition with them right under the wire!

I had so many magical Christmases I can remember in my childhood. I was fortunate, I see that now, you don't notice that sort of thing as a kid. Come to think of it, most of life is like that Cinderella song, Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone). And we don't know how good we've really got it until we don't got it. I mean, sure, there are a few moments of clarity when we stand outside of ourselves and understand we are creating something special in the moment, but so much is...that next thing. Targets. Dreams. "One day..."'s. And I don't want to get old and swoon to that ol' rock ballad every day.

I do that now with my knee; I miss those days where I could crank out lunges: forward, reverse, alternate, with weights, ones followed by front kicks—you name it. And today, I can't even do a single one. Maybe in 2023, I can live a life where I see with eyes that have looked back. Any hey, maybe I can train my body to pull off a few lunges at year's end?