You know it is Christmas at the home of Jerry’s Juice Bar when …

Every chair is occupied and every space on the leather couch is taken.  And somewhere amidst the chairs and couches someone has dozed off … usually on the leather couch.

There is a constant boiling of water for coffee, hum of the dishwasher readying for the next meal, and the sound of someone, somewhere taking a shower, and the picking up of someone’s “stuff”.

Friendly but foreign animals roam from person to person searching for a handout or just a hand that will pet a forehead or scratch an ear.

There’s a mountain of paper waste, boxes, wrappings, turkey carcasses, tins and coffee grounds overflowing the sole garbage can in the back yard.

At any given time someone is sitting and reading, someone is on the computer, someone is watching television, someone is either going or preparing to go, and someone is coming back.

And me?

I get quiet.  I reflect.  I smile.  I wish for things that could be.  And am happy for things that are.

Merry Christmas to all.