It was about 4:30 this afternoon and we were getting near the end of the do-four-days’-work-in-three routine that we always do three times a year, every year, for the privilege of not having to work on the actual holidays, when Michele, one of our veteran part-timers who was filling in, sent a message to everyone one the desk that went roughly like this:

I could be here or I could be in a church full of unfamiliar faces. I’m happier here with all my friends on Christmas Eve.

It’s a paraphrase but that’s how I remember it. A nice thought to have in one’s brain on the ride home.