Christmas Eve at Work

When we lived in Groveport as kids we attended the Groveport United Methodist Church.  Although none of us could sing, we were all members of the church Jr. Choir.  On Christmas Eve each year the Jr. Choir would put on a Christmas presentation.  One year dad was on call at work and while on the way home from the Christmas Eve service his pager went off.  We went home and dad dropped off my mom along with my younger brother and sister.  My older brother and I went in to work with dad.  Dad worked for the phone company and had to fix some problem with the system.  It was a change from the routine and was something that made that particular year a little more special.  For two kids our age to go to work with dad on Christmas Eve was something special. 

One other year that there was a change to "normal" Christmas routine, was the year that dad had to work overnight on Christmas Eve.  At the time I didn't realize how hard it must have been for dad to work all night on Christmas Eve, and then spend all day Christmas day doing the Christmas stuff at home and then driving 90 minutes to go to the grandparents' and back at the end of the night.  He had to have been completely exhausted.  On that morning, instead of waiting in the bedroom we all went to the kitchen and ate breakfast.  But we had to cut through the bathroom to get to the kitchen and for the shutter doors between the kitchen and living room were shut.  That was the only time that happened in all the years we lived at that house.