赶在圣诞之夜，将最近用手机拍的照片贴于此，留个纪念。这圣诞灯，老美年年挂，尤其是海景房的富人区，火树银花，流光溢彩。

女儿今年回家过圣诞了。我们又去mall和海边走了走。就像圣诞歌听多了，总有一种疲倦感。每年的圣诞灯饰也大同小异，不同的是心境。所谓岁岁年年景相似，年年岁岁人不同。

有女儿陪伴的日子总是开心的， 而今又是短暂的。

且行且珍惜吧！

祝大家圣诞快乐!

It was 8:30ish in the morning, the day before Christmas. Still in bed curling up inside the warm quilt, I felt a bit sore from yesterday’s tiredness.  A friend of my husband’s and his family came to visit around the area, and were invited for the dinner. I worked late into night to clean up the kitchen after they were gone.

Seriously, the company does not have the day before Christmas off? I apolitically told my daughter that the family could not go out today as planned since Dad had to work. She agreeably nodded, saying that she may have to work from home too, as a late last night email from the boss and the team indicated. Oh, well, I guess ……

When I was downstairs preparing for the breakfast, it was cloudy and cold. A familiar rumbling sound from two blocks away came dimly. It dawned on me that it was Monday, the day our garbage is collected. I hurriedly rolled out the garbage bin, a move I normally did the night before.

It’s Christmas Eve Day. While most companies have the day off, not every company or every working people has that luxury.  Think of the stores that are open, think of those who still work today, like the garbage collector, think of the open stock market (though it crashed again). Compared with them, I am lucky.

The daughter is back home for Christmas after a yearlong absence, or to be more exact, a year and five months from the time she left for Seattle last August.  Her presence means more than filling the void, but brings along with fresh air, the long-missed laughter and merriment. For two consecutive nights, we drove her to the big mall and the beachfront houses, to immerse ourselves in the festive Christmas lights lit luxuriously, a tradition they have been observing every year.

There is only a week left for 2018. Are we ready for 2019 yet?