So, we live in this fantastic old house. And by fantastic I mean that we bought it and a whole slew of problems. We were unaware of them (and apparently our home inspector was too). Nice...I know. The people that lived here prior to us were do it yourselfers that didn't know how to do it yourselfer if ya know what I mean. Anyway, early in the summer we began a bathroom project that was really supposed to be just us pulling out our downstairs toilet, maybe a small area of sub-floor, cleaning up minimal water damage, and replacing those very few items. Well, that project came to an abrupt hault basically the day it began when we realized that the toilet leak wasn't contained to an area just around toilet, but that the water ran along an I-joist (not sure if that's correct construction lingo, but it is to me...so there), all the way to our laundry room (which is the next room over). Not only that, but the water had been leaking for probably the entire eight years that we lived here because the prior owners literally did not put the wax ring down correctly. Yes, to answer your question right now, I AM SERIOUS! We were lucky we didn't fall through our bathroom floor. It was that bad when we tore it up. To make matters worse, they didn't install the proper flooring under our ceramic tiles so all of our grout and some tiles were cracking. So basically, our bathroom was almost a total loss. We kept our tub. That's it. Oh, and our towel bar. I liked that too. Lol! Here's the cruddy thing though...our laundry room had ceramic tile too, and our laundry room connected to a mudroom that had ceramic tile too. So guess what happened. We had to rip it all out! Everything in three rooms! All gone. Wanna know the best thing though??? We bought this fantastic new fridge about the same time we started our bathroom in June, and it leaked too. No, this is not a joke! The installers didn't install something called a flange (I think), and the water line to the fridge got pinched and it literally leaked water for a week before we knew it (because the water sprayed backwards into a closet behind our fridge). I realized there was a problem when I stood on tile by that closet and water seeped out of the grout! Really...I am serious. It turns out that that water also ran along an I-joist all the way to the back of our house. That meant that the only room left unaffected by our bathroom remodel was now taken out by our fridge leak. So, out goes the carpet and all the insulation too. We were left with an addition that was just about gutted! Those four rooms, bathroom, laundry room, mudroom, and fireplace room (that's what we call it anyway) were an addition to our original old cozy home. That's what I meant when I said addition in the sentence before. Wow! That was like the longest paragraph ever!
Well, we had to wait from June to November to get this good old construction project a goin' cause that was when our contractor was finally available. It went fast though, I'm not gonna lie. It wasn't completely awful living with only one bathroom. Coulda been worse...I think. I have this thing though...my birthday is November 13 and I really really like to start decorating for Christmas that day. We did get some Christmas stuff up that day, but I couldn't help but be disappointed. Because half of our house was destroyed I couldn't put up as many trees as I wanted too. I couldn't decorate our mantel because it was covered with a big plastic tarp. I couldn't hang our stockings. I only put up some of our outdoor lights because we didn't even have a nice exit to our back porch...that's covered with a plastic tarp too. I couldn't have a Christmas party here because our space is limited. I really just found myself disappointed because this project really ruined everything I loved about Christmas. Isn't that the most ridiculous statement you've ever read?!?!?!
What is Christmas about anyway? Certainly not what I made it out to be. It's not about anything that I listed that I loved. Not the cards, the music, the cookies (or Janice's fudge), the lights, the sparkling snow...non of it! It is only about this little baby that was literally born in basically a hole in the side of a hillside. That almost brings tears to my eyes to write that. For so long I've found joy in things that are so unimportant. Things that I almost obsess over every year, and non of it matters. How did I, a girl that claims to be "in-Christ", miss that? Miss where my focus was? It's certainly easy to do with the way our society plays up the consumerism of Christmas isn't it?
I am thankful. Thankful for this big old house and it's big old messes that put me in my place. I am thankful for that baby that was born in a stable, placed in a manger that first CHRISTmas. Thankful that He is my Savior...our Savior. Thankful that I finally know that if it was all taken away...all of it...everything that I claimed to love...that it would still be Christmas because of Him.
But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Luke 2:10-12
