WordPress Daily Prompt: High Noon

At noon today, take a pause in what you're doing or thinking about.  Make a note about it and write a post about it later.

And our Christmas decorations  just stayed cool and our Santa looked on at the stress in the kitchen.

I believe it is called “living for the moment”. At least that was my doing and thinking at noon today. It seems, however, that the Daily Prompt gurus do not realise that the countries of the world operate at different times. I receive notice of a Daily Prompt at 14.00 hours, two o’clock in the afternoon to write about my condition at midday, meaning that the time in operation on this WordPress system is two hours later than mine.

Today is Christmas Day, the day when many families, and mostly women, are busy with the final preparations of the turkey, or whatever you eat on this special day. Living in Switzerland I have all this behind me, as our main meal is Christmas Eve in the evening. I had my stress yesterday evening, cooking meat, frying potatoes, preparing and cooking brussel sprouts and vichy carrots. Why? Because it is something called Christmas.

This whole thing is getting out of hand. In the olden days people were just statisfied with less. Now it is one big competition to see who serves the best meal, organises the most presents and of course the right wine has to be served. The gourmet feeding seesions continue over Christmas and I have the complete family at home, my external son will be leaving us this afternoon after lunch.

At midday today, I was cooking my Christmas Day lunch. I had just one single thought, the meat will be ready in thirty minutes, the water is heating in the saucepan to cook the noodles. I just did not have the time to make a study of the weather or solving intellectual problems. Day dreaming was not possible, as I had an oven full of meat cooking and the water was approaching boiling point. The noodle packet was opened ready for the dive into the boiling water. First of all add salt and then let the cooking process take its course. At 12.30 the dinner will be served and afterwards,perhaps a desert,  a coffee or tea and another stress process comes to an end.

If it was a normal midday, a normal week, no Christmas stress, then I would have finished the meal by midday and might even have had thoughts about what to do today. Go out to town, take a walk through the countryside, even read a book, but no chance. It is Christmas and we are all trying to do our best to please all the people all the time. I really do not need this holiday marathon. No chance to take a pause or think, just work.

At least Gary Cooper could have a shoot out with the baddies and rid himself of unnecessary trouble. He won the gun battle and everyone was happy. I will have a shoot out with the meal and afterwards recover with an hour’s sleep, before the carousel starts again.