The Christmas Typhoon

I have just survived a storm...
How do I explain the busy-ness? Yesterday was Christmas in Odate, which was busy, but that now seems like a holiday in Hawaii compared to what today was. Yesterday was only a Christmas party with my ladies class in the morning, decorating cookies with all the kids before they put on their Israelite gear and rehearsed their memorized English lines in the afternoon, then the adult party at night. Today was....wow.
I rolled out of bed at 10:15 (forty-five minutes after my alarm went off), and, after taking an hour for myself instead of hurrying to be on time (justifying it because I hadn't even been home for twelve hours yet), left for the church. There we spent a frantic two hours getting ready for the next eight hours of endlessness. We decorated cookies with about 60 kids, then did the English play (I will insert that all the kids did amazing and I now know what a proud mom or dad feels like when they see their kids do well), had a tea time, an ocarina concert, a candle light service, another tea time, pizza making, song singing, and then finally cleaning up and going home.
It is now 10:15. My jacket is still on (mostly because it's freezing in here), my house is a mess (I have absolutely no time to even clean it even a little) but thankfully my neighbor is not chanting tonight; that's enough to make anybody happy.
I will note that I never want to have Christmas with this level of franticity (if that's a word) ever again.
One of my responsibilities was the candle service. I took the Christmas story portions of the bible and highlighted them into parts, like 'angel', 'narrator', 'wisemen', 'King Herod', so it wouldn't be boring for everybody listening if they just read the story straight through. Then I had it all arranged into sections so they do a little reading, then we stop and sing a carol, do more reading and sing again, and so on. Then I gave the members of our church parts last week, which we practiced a few times. But today the narrator decided not to stop in the middle of the Matthew account to switch into Luke, and it got read straight through, despite my reminding him right before he started. And there was nothing I could do; I tried stopping him during the first few verses of the magi story, but he just kept on plugging through the story. Consequently, the wisemen showed up at the stable before Jesus had even been born, and even before Mary and Joseph had travelled to Bethlehem; a song or two also got cut out because of the mistake.
I was more than a little frustrated that the story got messed up so badly, but mostly because my apparent lack of being able to communicate. But alas, it was one of those things I just had to let go and let happen, and go on with singing 'Joy to the 'World'.
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve...so the calender says. My calender says church and then an English Christmas party in Aikawa (which I am obligated to attend and I really don't want to go to). Maybe Christmas Day will be less busy; Bonita and I are just making Christmas dinner for some church members. Boxing Day: going to a doctor in Akita City early in the morning and who knows what else in the afternoon. The next day: going to Akita City again with a friend for shopping, Starbucks and puricura. The day after: collapse... and don't feel the least bit guilty for not leaving my house (haha or even my bed).
So yes this is Christmas. A perk to being 'abroad' for Christmas is that every day you come home there's mail in your mailbox...even if you have no idea who it's from...I'm definitely not complaining.
I'm sure this is a Christmas I will remember years and years down the road. It's like 'Baby's First Christmas', except in my situation it should be called 'Adult's First Christmas'... my Christmas typhoon.