December 29

We got up earlier this morning, so I could get a treadmill session in before Niece and her family arrived. After my exercises, Mother came over and put color in my hair in anticipation of hair cut appointments tomorrow.

Niece and family came shortly after I was ready for the day. They stayed until around 1 p.m., but declined lunch, since they were due to have a meal at Nephew-in-Law's parent's house mid-afternoon. So we just brought out the dips, Italian cream cheese ball and crackers for them to munch on.

The two great nephews and great niece performed for us while they were here. Fifteen-year-old Great-Nephew played violin and banjo for us. He is quite talented and skilled with these and other instruments, and we enjoyed hearing him play. Twelve-year-old Great Nephew is just beginning to learn to play his saxophone, but he did very well playing a couple of tunes he has learned. Thirteen-year-old Great-Niece, who plays piano, sang for us. She has a clear, sweet voice, and she sang a number that she performed in "Sweeney Todd," which was recently produced in her hometown.

Niece gave Mother a small digital photo viewer for Christmas. It can hold up to 60 snapshots, and can run as a slideshow. Niece had already loaded the viewer with several shots of her family, and I can download more to it from my computer. It is simple to operate, so it won't be a problem teaching Mother how to use it.

Niece gave me a music CD of "Adele: 19". We played the CD while Niece was here, and I enjoy this performer. In exchange, I gave Niece a Christmas ornament/sun catcher from the art gallery.

After Niece and family left, Hubbie and I ran errands...to banks to deliver notices of an upcoming Master Gardener training program that they'll run on their electronic marquees, to the art gallery, to the store that has a sale every weekend to take back one of the electric hair trimmers for a refund, and to the WDCS for groceries.

I was disappointed that at the store that has a sale every weekend, we got a gift card instead of cash for the hair trimmer...their policy is, if you purchase with the store credit card, you get gift cards for returns .

We got back home around 4 p.m., in time to prepare new potatoes and zucchini squash for the steamer. We had these yummy veggies with corn-on-the-cob for supper.

Later, Hubbie and I went to the movie theater to see "Valkyrie." This is a very good movie, starring Tom Cruise. Rated PG-13, for violence and some language, this film is based on a true incident of a plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler during WWII.

Once again, there was no ticket taker anywhere to be found to give our complimentary tickets to. We tried as we entered the theater, and we tried as we left. No dice.

In fact, when time wore on and the film didn't begin, we wondered if there was an insurmountable problem that would mean the theater would have to issue more complimentary tickets.

Finally, one of the audience members went out and alerted someone to the problem (probably the one person who was manning the concession stand, since there was no one else around). The staff member said the films are supposed to begin automatically, but he called the manager to figure out what was wrong.

After a while, the house lights dimmed, and the the film began...and then stuck. Up came the house lights. Someone called out, "Boy, that was a good movie!" We all laughed. At last, the lights dimmed again, and this time the movie began...about 30 minutes late.