Today is a very specific kind of day.

It is not Christmas Eve.
It is slightly past Hanukkah.
It is the eve to the eve and we’re on the narrow bridge of Chrismukkah that we walk every year in our house with mild delight and moderate chaos.

It’s the in-between day our two holidays. The spiritual cul-de-sac.
It’s also the day where nothing is wrong but nothing is finished either.

So here I am, scurrying.

Moving the dimmed menorah slightly over. Lighting the tree a bit more. Repositioning gifts so they look intentional and not like they were panic-purchased and temporarily hidden behind furniture. Thinking about Christmas Eve dinner while mentally inventorying whether we have enough olive oil, onions, patience, and energy to stay up until midnight tomorrow night.

It feels less like holiday magic and more like backstage choreography.

I feel like a mouse.
Which mouse, you ask? Jerry. Definitely Jerry. The industrious one. The frenetic one. The one always moving something just a smidge to the left while chaos looms.

And also, somehow, I feel like a Nutcracker. Upright. Decorative. Smiling through it all. Holding it all together while the music swells and things get loud and sparkly and frenetic.

This is the day where everything becomes last minute. Even the things you swore you handled weeks ago.

The candles.
The wrapping.
The recipes.
The plans.
The emotional readiness.

It’s all happening now.

There is something oddly tender about this day, though. The bridge day. The neither/nor. It’s not about performance. It’s about re-positioning. About getting things almost right so tomorrow and the next day can feel meaningful.

This is Chrismukkah, which in practice, looks like a lot of gentle rearranging. Traditions nudged closer together. Lights overlapping. Sacred objects sharing shelf space.

And me. I’m a mouse, a Nutcracker, and a conductor of the in-between trying to remember that this frantic energy is part of the ritual too.

This day always reminds me that joy doesn’t arrive fully assembled.
It comes with cords tangled.
Candles moved twice. Recipes revised at 9:47 pm.

So if you see me today, I’m probably darting. Making lists.
Crossing things off. Standing still for exactly 30 seconds and then remembering one more thing.

Tomorrow night I may stay up till midnight. Or I may collapse fully dressed with wrapping paper stuck to my sleeve.

Either way, happy Eve to the Eve.
May your inner mouse feel productive but not panicked.