BROKEN

  It was an accidental breaking. LH was going to give the dogs their 10 pm cookies, and Jazz, ever skittish over the tiled floor was hampered by the plastic tote alongside the couch, that contained the Nativity set for over the mantel, and ran over to Renoir's bed where Renoir still was. Renoir shot out past my potted plant, his hip hitting the earthenware pot sitting on top a wicker stool and down crashed the pot, breaking off the saucer rim and spilling some dirt on the kitchen floor.
   It was a lovely pot, beige and brown, unglazed with a connected infinity design around it. I've had that pot for years. So long, that I can't even remember where I got it. It just blended with the beige neutral palette we have here. It survived the move from the City on the North Coast to here. It simply sat there adding some greenery to our dinette. It housed a palm that I've had for more years than I can remember, part of a philodendron which keeps making leaves, and an avocado plant which I grew from an avocado pit and then planted.
   Since I can't water the plants with part of bottom saucer missing, I had to go find a new pot. Well, I knew I would never find such a lovely pot again, not here in this part of the state, and certainly not in December where everything is poinsettias and little Norfolk pines.
   On a snowy morning, with the roads good when I left, I made the quick jaunt to Lowe's, which had nothing. A pot but no matching saucer and either a dark brown plastic saucer that was way, way too big, or little terra cotta ones that didn't quite match. So it was on to Home Depot, and thankfully, they had a glazed sage green pot with viney leaves motif baked into the pot. It'll have to do. The color goes with our palette, but it is not near as nice as one I had. The roads on the way home were getting very snow coated and slippery.
   I was so angry last night, pulling out the vacuum cleaner hose to vacuum up the dirt. The dogs knew I was spewing volcanic angry heat that they were so careless.
   I have to grieve the loss of this pot. It hurts. It's been a part of our lives for a very long time. I have to let it go. It is, after all, just a pot. The plants weren't harmed. The dogs were ok. The porcelain tile undamaged. It is not a huge loss, but a loss, nevertheless. I will never find another one like it.
   So, in the midst of a busy Advent - gifts were wrapped and sent, Christmas cards and letters, signed, stamped and mailed, LH's gifts wrapped but not be-ribboned, the Nativity scene set up, but stockings not yet hung, I have to repot the plants.
  Since the pot is pretty big and ceramic, I had to dig out a tarp I had to repot on the kitchen floor. Don't think I could carry the pot, full of dirt and plants, up the garage steps. It would be too heavy.
   I hope to get to the stockings today, as well as go over my Sunday School lesson and the sermon and service for tomorrow.
   I hope my plants survive the transplanting. I will set the pot on the floor and put the wicker stool away, so it won't be jostled or tip over. Beside the pot is too heavy for the wicker stool.
   I hope nothing else breaks in this short Advent time - excepting for the in-breaking of God's love, peace, grace, hope and joy into our lives, into the world.