muckefuck | A little Christmas

It was not a promising morning. I woke up an hour early but couldn't get out of bed. At work I was draggy, out of sorts. I wondered if I was coming down with something. I thought ahead to my rendezvous that evening with

cuore_felice34 and

innerdoggie and felt more dread than anticipation. When the former backed out due to work responsibilities, I wrote the latter and warned that I might bag as well. It was all up to restorative powers of lunch.

After a very hammy ham-and-cheese and some industrial soup, the improvement was not dramatic, but it was sufficient that I resolved not to leave

innerdoggie in the lurch. But the ride down was enough to make me reconsider. All in all, it took me nearly and hour-and-a-half to get from my workplace to Daley Plaza. I was tired, hungry, cold, and grumpy when I arrived at the Warming Tent to wait.

It would be an exaggeration to say all that melted away when I saw my friend's face--but not much of one. The struggle to fill my mug with Glühwein was not an easy one, but even waiting in line I suddenly animated and enthusiastic. Having filled my belly with Leberkäse and potato soup, I rose to the challenge of helping

innerdoggie hunt down a special decoration, taking her on a tour of all the likely spots as I gabbled on and on about Christmas traditions, both German and otherwise.

We sat on a cold bench to quiet the spasms in my back from so much standing and she reminded me about how last year she asked me for my favourite Christmas carol. I thought it might've been "Good King Wenceslaus", but it was "Marcho dei Rei". This year she asked for carols about St Joseph; I'm sure I've heard some, but the names just didn't come to me. I left singing "Marcho dei Rei", and realised with some chagrin that it was first time I'd had a carol running through my head all season.