December 10th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

The first snowflake hasn’t fallen yet, and probably won’t for another couple of hours, but our schools are already closed. Makes you wonder how many kids slept in inside-out backward pajamas last night. LOL. Is that just a New Jersey thing or do the rest of you have a clue what I’m talking about? We are firmly in the three to six inch range, so this may prove to be a very long day. I just pray we don’t lose power.

So, I’m here. I’m alive. I survived last night, but I did take a Benadryl when I got home. Oops, I just realized you don’t know what I’m talking about. I cut the blog part short yesterday because I went over-board on the writing challenge. Anyway, last night I went to a greens making event. My mother purchased a ticket to make a boxwood tree, but then had a scheduling conflict, so I went in her place.

I have no problem with boxwoods, but I have a HUGE problem with the evergreen wreaths and center pieces the other folks were making. After half an hour in the room, my voice started getting raspy, and after an hour, it was getting hard to breathe. I finished the project in an hour and fifteen minutes and got the heck out of there, came home, took a Benadryl and went to bed. Breathing ok this morning, so crisis averted. Thank God!

Being allergic to greens really stinks! It took a long time to figure out why I was always sick at Christmas. After two Januarys in a row where I ended up in the hospital with pneumonia, someone asked if I was allergic to Christmas trees? I had never even considered it. The following year, we put up and artificial tree, and I was fine the whole season. We haven’t had a real Christmas tree now for years. A couple of years ago, I made an Advent wreath and brought it home. Within two days I started to feel sick, so out went the wreath. There will never be live greens in my house again.

The allergy has gotten so bad, I have issues being in a room with evergreens for more than an hour. This was lots of fun trying to sing in the choir at church. This year, the church hung artificial greens, so no inhaler hit for me before singing anymore…YEAH!! Now if I can just survive my husband’s office Christmas party and wrapping presents at the Somerset County Home for Temporarily Displaced Children, I’ll be in the clear.

I am going to attempt to get some running around done before the snow starts. I’m not holding out great hopes of getting a lot accomplished, but I’m willing to give it the old college try.

Again, I hope you have a warm and safe day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

 

Pandemonium breaks out at the North Pole…

 

“What the hell is going on?” Santa bellowed.

Jingle, the head Christmas elf, skidded to a stop in front of Santa. “Everything is going haywire.”

“I can see that.” Santa barked. “What I want to know is why!”

Jingle wrung his hands, “I don’t know. It all started with the cocoa machine, and now nothing seems to be working right. The conveyor belt jammed and then started running backwards. The paint guns are all clogged and won’t spray.”

Dingle chimed in, “and the stuffer won’t stuff.”

“And the fluffer won’t fluff.” Wingle added.

Mrs. Claus held out a tray for Santa’s inspection, “And the oven is turning out charred messes.”

“This is the last thing we need two weeks before Christmas.” Santa stroked his beard and began to pace. When he had to duck out of the way of an out of control toy plane, he yelled, “Pull the plug! Shut everything off! NOW!”

The elves scrambled to do his bidding as he resumed his pacing. When, at last, all frenzied activity stopped, the elves gathered in front of Santa and waited for instructions.

Santa ceased his pacing and turned toward the group, “When did you first notice things going wrong?” Everyone began speaking at once. Santa raised his voice over the crowd, “One at a time! Jingle, you said it started with the cocoa machine, right?”

“Yes Santa.”

“Okay we’ll start there then. Tell me what happened.”

“It was almost three and time for our afternoon cocoa break. I was getting the cups ready for the crew and the machine started going berserk, cocoa spraying everywhere, marshmallows flying through the air. I couldn’t get it to stop.”

Santa scratched his chin, pondered a moment, then asked, “Did anything happen before the cocoa machine started acting up?”

Out of time.

HOLY COW! I just looked out the window, and where ten minutes ago there wasn’t even a flurry, now we are in near white-out conditions. So much for doing any running around before the snow starts. I make it a point NOT to go out in weather like this, unless there’s an emergency. Since there is no emergency, my running around can wait until tomorrow.

Your Next Challenge is:

Battling the storm with French toast…

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.